Current State of Diversity in Orthopaedic Surgery Residency and Future Direction: A Review

Orthopaedic surgery is one of the least diverse fields in medicine. Barriers to increasing the racial, gender, and sexual minority diversity of residents include pervasive negative impressions about the culture in orthopaedic surgery; lack of early exposure to and education about orthopaedics; new large-scale diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives that have yet to become fully established; and lack of mentorship from those with shared backgrounds, gender, sexual orientation, or race. Recently, there have been several pipeline initiatives aimed at exposing women and underrepresented minority students to orthopaedics and medicine early in their careers, which have shown remarkable success. Toward this goal, recent recommendations from Nth Dimensions have provided a toolkit to help recruit and maintain diverse trainees. Furthermore, advocating for further funding and support of initiatives from national organizations that lead the field of orthopaedics will be paramount to institutionalizing efforts of diversity, equity, and inclusion within the orthopaedic community.