DEI and antiracism curriculum must connect the classroom to the clinic to educate medical students about racism in medicine

(Press-News.org) There's a growing awareness of the role medicine as an institution has played in creating and perpetuating health inequities facing historically marginalized groups, yet systemic racism and implicit biases continue to shape aspects of clinical practice such as care management decisions and patient communication. 

Addressing medical racism has become an essential part of the medical education curriculum, though most published curricula treat health equity as a lecture topic separate from clinical practice. In this report, authors from the Emory University School of Medicine present a new approach to threading (cohesively incorporating) diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and antiracist concepts throughout all aspects of undergraduate medical education.

The authors set out three phases of the process of threading DEI and antiracist concepts into medical education. Phase one is to establish a framework for DEI curriculum development. A dedicated team of administrators, faculty, and students is assembled to identify gaps and opportunities in the current curriculum, recommend changes toward shaping a DEI-informed curriculum, and create a bias-reporting system. The team also establishes metrics to periodically assess how students and faculty feel about curricular changes and shifts in the campus climate as they pertain to DEI and antiracist initiatives.

The second phase is curriculum content development. The DEI team proposes learning objectives and outcomes that correspond to DEI and antiracism concepts for all courses and clerkships. They encourage faculty development for learning best practices in teaching about DEI topics within their curriculum. The team also determines how best to evaluate learning outcomes to ensure that students attain the appropriate knowledge and skills.

The third phase entails the implementation of the DEI and antiracism medical curriculum, and the ongoing evaluation and refinement of that curriculum thereafter.

The authors acknowledge that the success of a DEI and antiracism curriculum requires dedicated funding for full-time staff and training personnel, clear and cohesive goals, and significant effort, awareness, and support at all levels from students through senior administrators. The approach they outline in this paper is meant to offer actionable guidance for taking steps toward health equity within medical education.

How to Create a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Curriculum: More Than Checking a Box

Tracey L. Henry, MD, MPH, MS, et al

Emory University School of Medicine, Department of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia

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