Hiring

“For decades, efforts to increase the presence of underrepresented minority (URM) groups in the physician workforce have received widespread endorsement. Actual progress in diversifying our profession, however, has been disappointing. The disconnect between vocal support and visible results has been due, at least in part, to a pervasive but often unspoken belief that diversity is an ‘extra,’ a secondary consideration when selecting future members of our profession. Diversity would be nice, we believe, as long as it does not require trade-offs in more important factors, particularly academic achievement, as measured by science grades and standardized test scores. With that mind-set, lower average grades and scores among URM students, blamed on inequitable primary and secondary education, provides an easy excuse to shrug our shoulders on the issue of diversity.”

Saha, 2014.

Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Clinical Grading in Medical School

Performance during the clinical phase of medical school is associated with membership in the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society, competitiveness for highly selective residency specialties, and career advancement. Although race/ethnicity has been found to be associated with clinical grades during medical school, it remains unclear whether other factors such as performance on standardized tests account for racial/ethnic differences in clinical grades. Identifying the root causes of grading disparities during the clinical phase of medical school is important because of its long-term impacts on the career advancement of students of color.  This single institution study is among the first to document racial/ethnic disparities in MSPE summary words and clerkship grades while accounting for clinical clerkship final written examinations.

You can read the published 2019 study here at Teaching and Learning in Medicine.