Do Orthopedic Surgery Residency Program Web Sites Address Diversity and Inclusion?

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Surgical Specialties
• Diversity and Inclusion

Background:

• Orthopedic surgery is a medical specialty with low diversity.
• Diversity initiatives are used in other specialties to increase underrepresented minority (URM) students.
• The COVID-19 pandemic increased reliance on residency program websites for information.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the extent of diversity and inclusion (D&I) initiatives described on orthopedic surgery residency program websites.
• To quantify the presence of D&I information on these platforms.

Main Methods:

• Orthopedic surgery residency programs in the U.S. were identified using the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS).
• Program websites were systematically reviewed for information regarding D&I commitments.
• Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the collected data.

Main Results:

• Out of 189 analyzed orthopedic surgery residency program websites, only 55 (29.10%) included information on diversity and inclusion.
• The most frequently found D&I-related data point was a general commitment to improving diversity and inclusion, present on only 15% of websites.

Conclusions:

• Orthopedic surgery residency programs seldom feature D&I topics on their websites.
• Increased emphasis on URM opportunities and D&I initiatives on websites could enhance outreach and matriculation of URM students in orthopedic surgery.