An Academic Medical Center's Learners' Perceptions of Health Disparities

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Health Equity Research
• Biomedical Sciences

Background:

• Health inequity results in disparate patient treatment and national health disparities.
• Academic medical centers are crucial for training healthcare professionals and researchers to address these disparities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the impact of an introductory health disparities course on learners' knowledge and perceptions.
• To evaluate changes in understanding how demographic characteristics influence patient treatment.

Main Methods:

• An introductory health disparities course was conducted for graduate students and fellows at a Midwest academic medical center.
• Pre/post-course assessments were administered to measure changes in knowledge and perceptions.
• Unpaired analysis was used to include baseline responses.

Main Results:

• A significant increase in learners' knowledge of health disparities was observed post-course.
• Learners reported changes in perceptions regarding patient treatment based on demographic characteristics.
• Statistically significant differences were found in perceptions of treatment based on gender identity (P=0.02) and sexual orientation (P=0.04).

Conclusions:

• An academic medical center can effectively implement training on health disparities for diverse learners.
• The study highlights the impact of health disparities on biomedical research and patient care from a learner's perspective.
• This course model is suitable for introductory health disparities education.