C. Erikson is deputy director, Health Workforce Research Center on Health Equity in Health Professions Education and Training, Fitzhugh Mullan Institute for Health Workforce Equity, Department of Health Policy and Management, Milken Institute School of Public Health, The George Washington University, Washington, DC; ORCID: http://orcid.org/:0000-0003-1531-9535 .
M. Ziemann is senior research associate, Fitzhugh Mullan Institute for Health Workforce Equity, Department of Health Policy and Management, Milken Institute School of Public Health, The George Washington University, Washington, DC.
Acad Med. 2022 Jan 1;97(1):30-36. doi: 10.1097/ACM.0000000000004427.
Social mission efforts in health professions education are designed to advance health equity and address the health disparities of the society in which they exist. While there is growing evidence that social mission-related interventions are associated with intended outcomes such as practice in underserved communities, student diversity, and students graduating with skills and knowledge that prepare them to address societal needs, critical evidence gaps remain that limit the possibility of generalizing findings and using social mission strategically to advance health equity. At a time when COVID-19 has been laying bare health disparities related to systemic racism and maldistribution of resources, understanding how health professions training can produce the workforce needed to advance health equity becomes even more imperative. Yet, data and methods limitations are hindering progress in this critical research. The authors present an overview of the social mission research landscape; their review of the research led them to conclude that more rigorous research and data collection are needed to determine the link between social mission activities in health professions education and advances in health equity. To accelerate understanding of how health professions education and training can advance health equity, the authors propose a social mission research road map that includes (1) creating a social mission research community by consolidating stakeholders, (2) building a solid foundation for the research through development of a consensus-driven logic framework and research agenda, and (3) laying out the data and methodological needs that are imperative to strengthening the social mission evidence base and identifying opportunities to address these needs. Core to achieving these milestones is leadership from an organizing body that can serve as a hub for social mission research and engage stakeholder groups in building the evidence base for social mission strategies that will ultimately advance health equity.
社会使命在卫生专业教育中的努力旨在促进健康公平，并解决其所在社会的健康差距问题。虽然越来越多的证据表明，与社会使命相关的干预措施与预期结果相关，例如在服务不足的社区中开展实践、学生多样性以及学生毕业时具备准备好满足社会需求的技能和知识，但仍存在关键证据差距，限制了推广发现和战略性地利用社会使命来促进健康公平的可能性。在 COVID-19 暴露出与系统种族主义和资源分配不均相关的健康差距的时期，了解卫生专业培训如何培养推进健康公平所需的劳动力变得更加重要。然而，数据和方法的局限性阻碍了这一关键研究的进展。作者介绍了社会使命研究领域的概况；他们对研究的回顾使他们得出结论，需要进行更严格的研究和数据收集，以确定卫生专业教育中的社会使命活动与健康公平的进步之间的联系。为了加速了解卫生专业教育和培训如何推进健康公平，作者提出了社会使命研究路线图，包括（1）通过整合利益相关者来创建社会使命研究社区，（2）通过制定共识驱动的逻辑框架和研究议程为研究奠定坚实基础，以及（3）制定数据和方法学需求，这对于加强社会使命证据基础和确定解决这些需求的机会至关重要。实现这些里程碑的核心是由一个组织机构提供领导力，该机构可以作为社会使命研究的中心，并使利益相关者群体参与构建社会使命战略的证据基础，最终将推进健康公平。
