Racial Anxiety among Medical Residents: Institutional Implications of Social Accountability

As the U.S. population becomes more racially diverse, physicians need to have cultural skills for optimal health outcomes; however, the literature is sparse for cultural skill application of medical trainees. This paper focuses on Family Medicine residents' perceptions of racial anxiety and their preparedness to manage cross-racial interactions. Of the 24 respondents, the majority were female. The ethnicities of respondents were 16 non-Hispanic White, five African American, and three Native American. Most participants demonstrated good general knowledge and/or self-efficacy on racial anxiety, but produced lower scores in workplace skills and actions related to racial anxiety. Thus, physician training programs should incorporate more skill development around racial anxiety. More research is needed to examine how medical schools approach multicultural education as a method of disrupting health disparities to reflect trends of social accountability and social justice.