A Scoping Review to Assess Current Interventions and Gaps in Recruiting for an Inclusive Surgical Workforce.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Surgical Workforce Diversity
• Health Equity

Background:

• Surgical subspecialties face challenges in recruiting diverse trainees.
• Diversity in the surgical workforce offers significant benefits for patient care.
• Existing efforts to improve diversity require evidence-based strategy synthesis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To conduct a scoping review of strategies for recruiting diverse surgical trainees.
• To assess the evidence level supporting recruitment interventions.
• To identify gaps in the literature regarding diversity in surgical training.

Main Methods:

• Searched PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science databases.
• Included studies reporting original data on recruitment interventions for graduate surgical training.
• Defined diversity broadly, encompassing gender/sexual minorities, ethnic/racial minorities, persons with disabilities, and veterans.

Main Results:

• Early exposure programs (44%), bias reduction in interviews (32%), and inclusive programmatic structures (24%) were common interventions.
• The highest level of evidence found was Level 3 (80% of studies).
• Interventions primarily targeted racial/ethnic minority (76%) and women's (44%) representation.

Conclusions:

• Summarizes evidence-based practices for diverse surgical workforce recruitment.
• Outlines interventions for institutions to promote diversity in surgery.
• Identifies areas for future research to advance inclusive surgical workforce recruitment.