Who's in Our Neighborhood? Healthcare Disparities Experiential Education for Residents

Residents and fellows frequently care for patients from diverse populations but often have limited familiarity with the cultural preferences and social determinants that contribute to the health of their patients and communities. Faculty physicians at academic health centers are increasingly interested in incorporating the topics of cultural diversity and healthcare disparities into experiential education activities; however, examples have not been readily available. In this report, we describe a variety of experiential education models that were developed to improve resident and fellow physician understanding of cultural diversity and healthcare disparities.

Experiential education, an educational philosophy that infuses direct experience with the learning environment and content, is an effective adult learning method. This report summarizes the experiences of multiple sponsors of Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-accredited residency and fellowship programs that used experiential education to inform residents about cultural diversity and healthcare disparities. The 9 innovative experiential education activities described were selected to demonstrate a wide range of complexity, resource requirements, and community engagement and to stimulate further creativity and innovation in educational design.

Each of the 9 models is characterized by residents' active participation and varies in length from minutes to months. In general, the communities in which these models were deployed were urban centers with diverse populations. Various formats were used to introduce targeted learners to the populations and communities they serve. Measures of educational and clinical outcomes for these early innovations and pilot programs are not available.

The breadth of the types of activities described suggests that a wide latitude is available to organizations in creating experiential education programs that reflect their individual program and institutional needs and resources.