In Search of Workforce Diversity? A Program's Successful Approach

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Health Disparities
• Surgical Training

Background:

• Health care disparities persist along racial and ethnic lines.
• A shortage of physicians from underrepresented minority groups exacerbates these disparities.
• Improving diversity in medical specialties is crucial for equitable patient care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To implement and assess a multifaceted approach to enhance the representation of physicians underrepresented in medicine (URM) within a plastic and reconstructive surgery residency program.
• To evaluate the program's success in increasing URM resident numbers over a defined period.

Main Methods:

• A comprehensive recruitment and retention strategy focused on diversity and inclusion was implemented from 2015 to 2020.
• A retrospective analysis of resident demographics was conducted over nine academic years (2011-2020).
• Demographic data of residents in the plastic and reconstructive surgery program were compared before and after the intervention.

Main Results:

• The representation of URM residents in the plastic surgery program significantly increased after implementing the multifaceted approach.
• URM representation reached an unprecedented high, with 29% of residents identifying as URM.
• Representation of African American and Latino residents notably surpassed national averages, while Native American and Alaskan Native representation remained low.

Conclusions:

• A targeted, multifaceted strategy can effectively enhance URM representation in plastic surgery residency programs.
• Institutions can adopt similar approaches to improve diversity among surgical trainees.
• Continued efforts are needed to address persistent underrepresentation for all minority groups, including Native American and Alaskan Native populations.