Representation Matters: One Urology Residency Program's Approach to Increasing Workforce Diversity.

Area of Science:

• Urology
• Medical Education
• Diversity and Inclusion

Background:

• Recruiting physicians from racially and ethnically underrepresented in medicine (URiM) backgrounds into urology remains a significant challenge.
• Addressing this disparity is crucial for diversifying the urology workforce and improving patient care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design, implement, and evaluate a novel recruitment strategy to increase URiM candidates in urology residency.
• To assess the impact of this strategy on the number of interviewed URiM applicants and ultimately recruited residents.

Main Methods:

• A 3-pronged approach was developed, including funded visiting student rotations, holistic application review, and targeted outreach.
• Statistical analysis compared URiM applicant and resident numbers, alongside traditional recruitment metrics, from 2015 to 2022.

Main Results:

• The percentage of URiM interviewees rose from 6.1% in 2015 to a peak of 40% in 2020.
• The proportion of URiM residents in the program increased from 0% in 2015 to 35% by 2022.
• No significant changes were observed in mean USMLE Step 1 scores or the maximum rank number required to fill positions.

Conclusions:

• An intentional, 3-pronged recruitment strategy effectively increased URiM representation in urology residency.
• These findings underscore the importance of proactive initiatives to diversify the urology workforce.
• Urologists are encouraged to adopt and lead such diversity-focused recruitment efforts.