Racial discrimination in surgery: A systematic review.

Area of Science:

• Medical ethics
• Surgical practice
• Workplace discrimination

Background:

• Racial/ethnic discrimination involves unfair treatment based on race or skin color.
• The UK General Medical Council advocates for zero tolerance towards workplace racism.
• This review examines racial discrimination within the surgical field.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine if racial/ethnic discrimination exists in surgical literature from the past five years.
• To identify suggested methods for reducing racial/ethnic discrimination in surgery.

Main Methods:

• A systematic review adhering to PRISMA guidelines and AMSTAR 2.
• A five-year literature search (2017-2022) on PubMed using terms related to racism and discrimination in surgery and surgical education.
• Quality assessment by MERSQI and evidence grading by GRADE.

Main Results:

• Ten studies, primarily from the USA and South Africa, were included, involving 9116 participants.
• Strong evidence (Grade I) supports the existence of racial discrimination in surgery within the last five years.
• Moderate scientific recommendation (Grade II) indicates that methods to reduce discrimination are available.

Conclusions:

• Sufficient evidence confirms racial discrimination in surgical practice over the past five years.
• Strategies to mitigate racial discrimination in surgery have been proposed.
• Healthcare and training systems must enhance awareness to combat discrimination's negative impacts on individuals and team performance.