Diversity and the next-generation physician-scientist

Resident Recruitment in a New Era

ABSTRACT

This chapter focuses on resident recruitment and recent US National Resident Matching Program changes and the impact in the evaluation and ranking of applicants within the specialty of anesthesiology. Recruitment challenges are examined as well as program strategies and potential future directions. Also discussed are DEI initiatives within the recruitment process.

Perceived stress from social isolation or loneliness among clinical and non-clinical healthcare workers during COVID-19

BACKGROUND

Workplace social isolation and loneliness have been found to result in a decline in job satisfaction and an increase in burnout among working individuals. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated feelings of loneliness and social isolation among healthcare workers. The majority of research on healthcare worker experiences is conducted in siloes which does not reflect the shared experiences of interprofessional teams. The purpose of this study is to understand stress from social isolation or loneliness across the entire clinical and non-clinical healthcare team over the course of the pandemic.

METHODS

Data was acquired using a cross-sectional survey distributed to healthcare workers once a year at a large academic medical center in the Southeastern United States during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2022). Information pertaining to job role, work location, and demographic factors was collected. Participants were also asked to assess individual well-being and resilience, in addition to reporting stress derived from various sources including job demands and social isolation or loneliness. Descriptive statistics and bivariate analyses were conducted to assess the association between stress from social isolation or loneliness and individual characteristics.

RESULTS

Stress from social isolation or loneliness was found to decrease over the survey period across all measured variables. Trainees and physician-scientists were found to report the highest rates of this stressor compared to other job roles, while Hospital-Based ICU and Non-ICU work locations reported the highest rates of loneliness and social isolation stress. Younger workers and individuals from marginalized gender and racial groups were at greater risk for stress from social isolation or loneliness.

CONCLUSIONS

Given the importance of social connections for well-being and job performance, organizations have a responsibility to create conditions and mechanisms to foster social connections. This includes establishing and reinforcing norms of behavior, and developing connection mechanisms, particularly for groups at high risk of loneliness and social isolation.

Socioeconomic Diversity in Admissions to MD-PhD Programs, 2014-2019

This cohort study of applicants to US MD-PhD programs examines the association of application outcomes with family income.

A global view of the aspiring physician-scientist

Physician-scientists have epitomized the blending of deep, rigorous impactful curiosity with broad attention to human health for centuries. While we aspire to prepare all physicians with an appreciation for these skills, those who apply them to push the understanding of the boundaries of human physiology and disease, to advance treatments, and to increase our knowledge base in the arena of human health can fulfill an essential space for our society, economies, and overall well-being. Working arm in arm with basic and translational scientists as well as expert clinicians, as peers in both groups, this career additionally serves as a bridge to facilitate the pace and direction of research that ultimately impacts health. Globally, there are remarkable similarities in challenges in this career path, and in the approaches employed to overcome them. Herein, we review how different countries train physician-scientists and suggest strategies to further bolster this career path.

Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine Special Statement: Race in maternal-fetal medicine research- Dispelling myths and taking an accurate, antiracist approach

Profound inequities in maternal and infant outcomes based on race exist, and the maternal-fetal medicine community has an important role in eliminating these disparities. Accurately employing race and ethnicity as social constructs within research that guides clinical practice is essential to achieving health equity. We must abandon commonly propagated myths that race is a surrogate for genetics or economic status and that data are exempt from potential bias. These myths can lead to harmful misconceptions that exacerbate racial disparities in maternal and infant health outcomes. Furthermore, these myths obscure racism as the true underlying etiology of racial disparities. Understanding that race is a social construct and using an antiracist approach to research are essential in combating racism and eliminating unacceptable disparities in maternal and infant health. This document provides specific suggestions to approach the research process with an antiracist framework.

The time is now: Student-driven implementation of social justice and anti-racism focused curricula in medical scientist training program education

There exists a dearth of supplementary programs to educate physician-scientist trainees on anti-racism and topics surrounding social justice in medicine and science. Education on these topics is critical to prevent the perpetuation of systemic racism within the institutions of academia and medicine. Students in the Washington University School of Medicine Medical Scientist Training Program and the Tri-Institutional MD-PhD Program developed journal clubs with curricula focused on social justice and anti-racism for the summer of 2020. In this article, we describe the impact of the Washington University journal club on the education of first year MD-PhD students and summarize the progress to date. The role of the journal club in the midst of the "double pandemic" of COVID-19 and generational systemic racism is discussed, highlighting the need for such supplemental curricula in MD-PhD programs nation-wide.

Inclusion in the Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine Physician-Scientist Workforce. Building with Intention

Physician-scientists comprise an exceedingly small fraction of the physician workforce. As the fields of pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine continue to invest in the development of the physician-scientist workforce, recruitment and retention strategies need to consider the temporal trend in the decline in numbers of trainees pursuing basic research, the challenges of trainees from underrepresented groups in medicine, and opportunities for career and scientific advancement of women physician-scientists. In this perspective article, we examine the headwinds in the training and education of physician-scientists and highlight potential solutions to reverse these trends.