Evaluating Diversity and Inclusion Content on Graduate Medical Education Websites

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Graduate Medical Education
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)

Background:

• Websites are crucial for residency programs to share information with prospective applicants.
• Key information includes diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
• Variability in DEI content across programs necessitates investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the extent and variability of DEI content on residency program websites.
• To compare DEI website content across different medical specialties.

Main Methods:

• Evaluation of 4644 residency training websites from the 2021 Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) list.
• Extraction of information serving as indicators of DEI content.
• Statistical analysis using Chi-square and one-way ANOVA to identify differences.

Main Results:

• The average DEI completeness score across all assessed program websites was low (6.1±14.6%).
• Only a small percentage of programs featured a dedicated diversity webpage (6.2%).
• Few programs explicitly stated a commitment to DEI (13.3%) or provided information on underrepresented in medicine (URiM) faculty (2.7%).

Conclusions:

• Graduate medical education programs should improve the DEI information available on their websites.
• Enhanced DEI content can potentially strengthen diversity recruitment for residency positions.
• Standardizing and expanding DEI information is recommended for residency program websites.