Using Community Engagement to Enhance Research and Practice in Hand Surgery

Health disparities related to race, ethnicity, gender, level of education, and other social determinants of health remain prevalent in medicine and surgery. Understanding the impact of health disparities on treatment decisions and outcomes among common hand surgery conditions has been a major focus of the American Society for Surgery of the Hand. Creative strategies are necessary to go beyond the description of disparities and move toward the proposal of actionable solutions. Community engagement research is one feasible approach that can help hand surgeons narrow these gaps and improve health care outcomes. With this approach, hand surgeons can improve patient-provider communication, increase knowledge of specific hand conditions among community members, and help guide subsequent initiatives to improve access and usage of hand surgery treatment. Community members can take on various roles ranging from participants to partnered investigators, enhancing the overall process to identify actionable solutions with the end user in mind. Additionally, the creation of community-academic partnerships through community engagement research is an excellent way to dismantle the historical mistrust among underrepresented groups through the deliberate inclusion of community members in the research design and execution.