Curriculum Innovation: Implementing Anti-Racism Education in Residency Training: A Multicenter Pilot Study

In March 2022, the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) published "The AAN Anti-Racism Education Program," an online curriculum designed to educate neurologists to recognize anti-racism as a professional competency, identify systemic and institutional racism and inequities, and apply an equity framework and related skills to patient care and health care systems. In the 2022-2023 academic year, a working group of neurology residency programs piloted the incorporation of this program into their didactic curriculum. The aim of this study was to determine the feasibility and impact of implementing the AAN Anti-Racism Education Program into neurology residency education.

This was a multicenter feasibility pilot study of neurology residency programs that participated voluntarily. A representative resident and faculty leader from each program met monthly with the AAN Anti-Racism Curriculum Chair, completed facilitator training, and incorporated the curriculum into their academic programming. The amount of protected time, as well as schedule and format for content delivery and discussion, was at the discretion of each program. Participating faculty and residents were invited to complete an anonymous IRB-approved REDCap survey at the completion of the curriculum.

Sixteen adult neurology residency programs participated in the pilot study. At the end of the academic year, 58 participants responded to the survey, including 18 faculty members and 40 residents. Of those who responded, 86% reported working through the online modules, generally spending 30-120 minutes per module. Most respondents reported that they would recommend this program to other residents and residency programs (84.5%), and most believed that residency training should include education about racism (91.4%). Respondents reported that, after completing this curriculum, they were more confident working with people from different racial backgrounds (77.6%), more confident caring for patients from different racial backgrounds (75.5%), more comfortable talking about racism (82.5%), better able to understand the impact of race on medical care and health outcomes (85.9%), and more confident that they would react or intervene to promote anti-racism (79.3%).

Implementation of the AAN Anti-Racism Education Program was feasible in a variety of programs and resulted in improved confidence among residents and faculty in addressing issues around race and racism.