Purpose: To fight racism and its influences on health, future physicians must understand racial disparities, their drivers, and existing interventions.
Background: We describe the development of a virtual workshop introducing third-year medical students to racial disparities in obstetrics and gynecology during their core clerkship.
Methods: Developed by medical students with faculty input, the workshop included discussions of racial disparities within general gynecology, gynecologic oncology, and maternal outcomes. The 90-minute workshop included didactic-style learning on racial disparities within the three topics as well as a small-group activity. Participants spent 40 minutes in small groups and were challenged to read a case, then identify and categorize different drivers of racial disparities impacting maternal outcomes. The workshop concluded with a discussion on current interventions, with emphasis on how to develop and assess effective solutions. Data was collected through a post-session survey and open-text feedback form.
Results: Of 25 participants, 17 filled out the post-session survey. Of the respondents, 16/17 (94.1%) reported they “understand how racism impacts women’s medical care”, and 13/17 (76.5%) felt “comfortable discussing structural racism in medicine”. Ten (58.8%) respondents would “recommend this session to a peer”. When asked about the most valuable component of the workshop, 6/11 (54.5%) respondents cited the small group activity.
Discussions: The success of this workshop evidences that curricula focused on mitigating racial disparities in obstetrics and gynecology are both impactful and feasible. We intend to continue developing the workshop and collecting data to equip future physicians with skills to combat structural racism.
Topics: CREOG & APGO Annual Meeting, 2022, Student, Resident, Faculty, Clerkship Director, Patient Care, Medical Knowledge, Systems-Based Practice & Improvement, CME, Lecture, Problem-Based Learning, Team-Based Learning, Gynecologic Oncology, Maternal-Fetal Medicine, General Ob-Gyn,
Fatima Khan, BA, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine; Sara Brenner, BS; Samuel Hinkes, BS; Hailey Robles-Holmes, BS; Anya Hall, BS; Allison Kumnick, BA
