Health Disparities Curricula in General Surgery Residency Programs: A Critical Scoping Review

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Public Health
• Surgical Training

Background:

• Structural determinants of health (SDOH) are now part of Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education requirements for residency programs.
• General surgery residency programs must integrate health disparities education.
• Understanding how residents learn about health disparities and SDOH is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the scope and concepts within current health disparities curricula for general surgery residents.
• To investigate how general surgery residents are educated on health disparities and SDOH.

Main Methods:

• Systematic literature search of PubMed, EMBASE, Education Research Complete, and Web of Science Core Collection.
• Inclusion of studies published after 2005 on health disparities curricula for general surgery residency programs.
• Critical review methods for data extraction and analysis of 5,317 screened articles.

Main Results:

• Seventeen articles identified seven unique health disparities curricula.
• All curricula utilized cultural frameworks; only three included education on SDOH (published after 2011).
• In-person didactics was the most common educational method.

Conclusions:

• Cultural frameworks remain central to health disparities training for general surgery residents.
• Further research is needed on unpublished curricula.
• Residents require a sociopolitical perspective to understand SDOH and serve all patients effectively.