Elmorsi Rami, Raborn Layne, Smith Brandon T, Asaad Malke, Egro Francesco M
Department of Plastic Surgery, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas.
Division of Plastic Surgery, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York.
J Surg Educ. 2025 Feb;82(2):103317. doi: 10.1016/j.jsurg.2024.103317. Epub 2024 Dec 16.
Significant efforts during the past decades have led to growing racial diversity in the field, resulting in more underrepresented minorities (URM) in training. To highlight areas for improving URM inclusion and training, we sought to pinpoint educational and achievement gaps among URMs in contrast to White and Asian trainees.
In this cross-sectional study, publicly accessible records were assessed for data on trainees' education, research, location, and race, comparing URMs (Black, Hispanic, Hawaiian, Native American) to White and Asian trainees.
Among 1092 trainees across 95 programs (950 integrated and 142 independent), Whites and Asians comprised 94.2%, while URMs (Blacks, Hispanics, and Others) made up 5.8%. Compared to U.S. medical students, there was a 21.4% increase in Whites and 1.2% in Asians, with a 3.9% and 4.3% decrease in Blacks and Hispanics, respectively. Comparable proportions graduated from medical schools with affiliated residency programs, matched at their schools, or pursued alternative pathways. URMs were all allopathic graduates, had more advanced degrees, with significantly more MBAs (p=0.024). A higher proportion of URMs trained in independent programs (p=0.003) and were distributed towards Southern and Midwestern programs (p=0.021). URMs had fewer citations (p=0.047), though publications and Hirsch index were comparable.
Our analysis identifies a remediable issue, offering avenues for improved racial representation. Early pre-match mentorship remains the key intervention to diversify the field by effectively guiding match strategies for URMs. This is evidenced by fewer citations among URM trainees albeit comparable research backgrounds higher prevenance of advanced degrees, particularly MBAs.
在过去几十年里，人们付出了巨大努力，使得该领域的种族多样性不断增加，导致在培训中的少数族裔代表性不足（URM）的情况增多。为了突出改善URM包容性和培训的领域，我们试图找出URM与白人和亚裔受训人员相比在教育和成就方面的差距。
在这项横断面研究中，我们评估了公开可得的记录，以获取有关受训人员的教育、研究、地点和种族的数据，将URM（黑人、西班牙裔、夏威夷人、美国原住民）与白人和亚裔受训人员进行比较。
在95个项目（950个综合项目和142个独立项目）的1092名受训人员中，白人和亚裔占94.2%，而URM（黑人、西班牙裔和其他）占5.8%。与美国医学生相比，白人增加了21.4%，亚裔增加了1.2%，而黑人和西班牙裔分别减少了3.9%和4.3%。从有附属住院医师项目的医学院毕业、在本校匹配或选择其他途径的比例相当。URM都是全科医学毕业生，拥有更多的高级学位，其中MBA学位的比例显著更高（p=0.024）。更高比例的URM在独立项目中接受培训（p=0.003），并且分布在南部和中西部项目中（p=0.021）。URM的被引次数较少（p=0.047），尽管发表的论文数量和赫希指数相当。
我们的分析确定了一个可补救的问题，为改善种族代表性提供了途径。早期的预匹配指导仍然是通过有效指导URM的匹配策略来使该领域多样化的关键干预措施。尽管研究背景相当，但URM受训人员的被引次数较少，高级学位，特别是MBA学位的比例较高，这证明了这一点。
