Health Professions Program Evaluation: A Culturally Competent and Responsive Framework

To create a highly skilled and diverse workforce capable of decreasing health disparities arising from ongoing social injustices, health professions programs must ensure the cultural responsiveness of all aspects of their students' educational journey. Supporting learners within and outside the classroom requires both commitment and resources. Policies and procedures must be created and embraced that value and support varied life experiences and situations that exist contrary to dominant Eurocentric models. This manuscript offers suggestions on how the macro- and micro-environments within which health professions programs are administered can be transformed to enhance cultural responsiveness and competence. Such program evaluation includes thoughtful analysis of recruitment and admissions, institutional support and faculty characteristics, curriculum philosophy and teaching, student assessment practices, and programmatic policies. Through iterative quality improvement measures, more diverse, equitable, and inclusive health professions programs will be established that well prepare graduates to value human variation.