Development of a Multifaceted Health Disparities Curriculum for Medical Residents

Health disparities education is required during residency training. However, residency program directors cite numerous barriers to implementing disparities curricula, and few publications describing successful disparities curricula exist in the literature. In this report, we describe the development, implementation, and early evaluation of a longitudinal health disparities curriculum for resident physicians. We provide resource references, process, and didactic toolkits to facilitate use by other residency programs.

We used a standard, six-step model for curricular design, implementation, and evaluation. We assessed feasibility of curricular development including practicality (program cost and time requirements) and demand (resident engagement). We also assessed program and learner outcomes, including number of didactic and clinic sessions delivered and resident preparedness, attitudes, and skill in caring for vulnerable patients.

We designed, implemented, and evaluated our curriculum in less than 1 year, with no external funding. Time costs included 100 chief resident and 20 faculty hours for curricular development, followed by 20 chief resident and 16 faculty hours for implementation. In the first year of our curriculum, 21% of residents (16 of 75) participated. We created eight didactic sessions and delivered four as intended. Residents provided 84 free clinic sessions for uninsured patients and reported increased preparedness and skill caring for vulnerable patients in 15 of 20 measured domains. Residents also reported 20 commitments to change on themes that comprehensively reflected the content of our first curricular year.

It is possible to design a disparities curriculum, overcome cited barriers, and improve educational outcomes related to the care of vulnerable patients.