- •Successful approaches to address inequities in the clerkship clinical learning environment (CCLE) are unclear.
- •Clerkship and medical education leaders have the opportunity to collaborate to promote equity in the CCLE.
- •Recommended strategies include acknowledging imposter syndrome, fostering a growth mindset, cultivating psychological safety, recognizing implicit bias and addressing mistreatment, designing curricula to promote inclusion, promoting use of certified interpreters, intentional recruitment for faculty educational opportunities, and educational continuous quality improvement.
Introduction
AAIM Conceptual Model to Optimize the Learning Environment
AAIM Conceptual Model Domain and Definition | Suggested Topics | Recommendations for Clerkship and Medical Education Leaders: Clerkship and Other Medical Education Leaders Should Collaborate to Develop and Implement Action Plans, as Inequities in the CCLE are Not Isolated to Core Clerkships | Feasibility (High, Moderate, Low) of Implementation Led by Clerkship Director * High feasibility: Multiple resources already exist and can be readily adapted, that is, Clerkship Directors can implement on their own, with minimal need to develop new content; Low feasibility: Fewer resources exist and may require more content development with external groups, for example, central medical school or hospital system leadership, content experts. | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Personal | Imposter syndrome and stereotype threat |
| Moderate | |
The lens through which a learner experiences the CCLE and the intrinsic qualities the learner adds. | ||||
Growth mindset |
| Low to Moderate | ||
Relational | Psychological safety |
| Low to Moderate | |
The ways in which individuals or groups interact and the impact of these interactions upon learners and the CCLE as a system. | ||||
Implicit bias and mistreatment |
| Low to Moderate | ||
Curricular | Cultural humility, inclusivity, and belonging |
| High | |
Factors relating to formal and educational experiences, and includes a process of learner assessment and feedback. Hidden curriculum is part of this domain, although this overlaps with other domains. | ||||
Structural | Use of certified interpreters |
| High | |
The organizational, programmatic, and physical context within which clinical learning occurs. Components can be specific to the local CCLE, or may be externally defined. | ||||
Faculty educational opportunities: Mitigating the effect of “minority tax” and “affinity bias” |
| High | ||
Educational continuous quality improvement |
| Moderate to High |
Personal
Acknowledging Imposter Syndrome and Stereotype Threat
- Bullock JL
- Lockspeiser T
- Del Pino-Jones A
- Richards R
- Teherani A
- Hauer KE
- •Educate students and faculty/resident supervisors about imposter syndrome and stereotype threat and their impact on learner experiences. This content6,7can be introduced during the pre-clerkship curriculum and in the clerkship curriculum with students and supervisors.
Bindman J, Connor D, Wheeler M. UCSF School of Medicine DEI Tips Sheet for the Clinical Learning Environment, Version 2.0. Developed by Academy of Medical Educators DEI Committee based on member expertise @ 2019 AME Meetings and updated 1/2022. Available at: https://ucsf.app.box.com/s/gv6wn3cqnmdhlouhyw5ul7dk3k6zkp1d. Accessed March 29, 2022.
- •Encourage faculty/resident supervisors to share their experiences with imposter syndrome or stereotype threat and share helpful strategies.
Fostering a Growth Mindset
- •Encourage students to self-identify learning goals and participate in creating their own learning action plans.
- •Train faculty/resident supervisors in self-theories10and how to foster a growth mindset.
Relational
Cultivating Psychological Safety
- •Provide faculty and residents with resources15and support to help them develop the skills to cultivate a climate of psychological safety in the CCLE.
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Creating psychological safety in teams: handout. 2018. Available at: https://www.ahrq.gov/evidencenow/tools/psychological-safety.html. Accessed January 20, 2022.
- •Incorporate techniques such as inviting input from all team members, active listening, debriefing, recognizing the limits of one's own knowledge, and engaging in effective feedback to engender trust and build alliances.14,15Examples of phrases
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Creating psychological safety in teams: handout. 2018. Available at: https://www.ahrq.gov/evidencenow/tools/psychological-safety.html. Accessed January 20, 2022.
15that can be used in either team settings or one-on-one situations include:Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Creating psychological safety in teams: handout. 2018. Available at: https://www.ahrq.gov/evidencenow/tools/psychological-safety.html. Accessed January 20, 2022.
- ○“If you see anything that concerns you, please speak up. We're a team focused on being the best we can be for our patients and for each other, and we have to have each other's backs.”
- ○“Great point! The whole team should hear that. Can you bring it up on rounds tomorrow?”
- ○“I'm not sure we're following the guideline correctly. Let's check together.”
- ○
Recognizing Implicit Bias and Addressing Mistreatment
- Bullock JL
- Lockspeiser T
- Del Pino-Jones A
- Richards R
- Teherani A
- Hauer KE
- •Incorporate implicit bias recognition and management training in faculty and resident development programs.
- ○Key features include creating a safe learning context; increasing knowledge about the science of implicit bias; emphasizing how implicit bias influences behaviors and patient outcomes; increasing self-awareness of existing biases; improving conscious efforts to overcome implicit bias; and enhancing awareness of how bias influences others.18,23
- ○Educate teams on how to recognize and address all forms of mistreatment. Consider preemptively asking students their preferences in how to manage situations of mistreatment, including individual or team debriefs and support for the student, or no debriefs.24,25This approach promotes psychological safety and empowers the student.24Include this information in team orientation e-mails for wide dissemination and review it at annual resident and faculty meetings.
- ○
Curricular
Cultural Humility, Inclusivity, and Belonging
- •Include diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in clerkship curricular objectives. For example, include the Association of American Medical Colleges core Entrustable Professional Activity 5.5: “Demonstrates sensitivity and responsiveness to a diverse patient population, including but not limited to diversity in gender, age, culture, race, religion, disabilities, and sexual orientation.”29
Aiyer M, Garber A, Ownby A, Trimble G. Core Entrustable Professional Activities for Entering Residency — EPA 5.5. Obeso V, Brown D, Phillipi C, eds. Washington, DC: Association of American Medical Colleges; 2017. Available at: https://aamc.org/initiatives/coreepas/publicationsandpresentations. Accessed May 17 2022.
- •Be intentional with the use of race, gender, and sexual identity in teaching cases and materials. Several evidence-based resources exist to guide this process.27,30To identify potential bias when reviewing/writing a case, ask 3 things: does the case involve a patient of color or minority culture; is attribution of a patient's health belief or practice made to cultural values, beliefs, or practices; and is guidance provided on how to approach minority patients (based on their “unique belief systems” as a group)? If the answer is yes, consider editing to mitigate bias.
- •Do not use race routinely in the history of present illness. If race or ancestry is relevant to the case, it may be discussed in the social history or in family history.31,32
- •Teach how to ask about an individual's self-identified racial, ethnic, gender, and sexual identities,33preferred language, and accommodations used or needed.
- •Teach and role model use of preferred name, pronunciation, and pronouns in orientation, classroom, and clinical settings.28
- •Acknowledge the current controversies in race-based medicine practice such as the use of race in clinical algorithms (atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease risk) and study interpretation (kidney function and pulmonary function tests).34For example, state that there is a widespread current discussion about race-based medical practice, and that it is important and it is evolving.35
- •Contextualize group differences in disease/illness burden by identifying social determinants of health and racism rather than race as risk factors for illness.31,36
Structural
Use of Certified Interpreters
- •Recommend teams work with certified interpreters. Discourage using students as ad hoc interpreters. Add this information to team orientation e-mails for wide dissemination to students and supervising physicians.
- •Allow certified student interpreters to volunteer to interpret for team patients (opt-in approach). Supervisors should not ask students to interpret for multiple patients because it may detract from their role as a learner.
- •Encourage all students to work with patients with LEP and to utilize interpretive services.
Faculty Educational Opportunities: Mitigating the Effect of Minority Tax and Affinity Bias
- •Create a “request for application” process for all clerkship teaching and mentoring opportunities. This request should include a description of the opportunity and selection criteria and should be disseminated widely within relevant settings.
- •Be deliberate in recruitment and hiring efforts and intentionally include UIM faculty as educators for all clerkship topics, not exclusively DEI topics.
Educational Continuous Quality Improvement
- Colson ER
- Pérez M
- Blaylock L
- et al.
- Benoit LJ
- Travis C
- Swan Sein A
- Quiah SC
- Amiel J
- Gowda D
- •Build anonymous reporting mechanisms to gather student reports about the CCLE and mistreatment, such as an automated process that reviews anonymous course evaluation comments for reports of bias.48,
- Benoit LJ
- Travis C
- Swan Sein A
- Quiah SC
- Amiel J
- Gowda D
Toward a bias-free and inclusive medical curriculum: development and implementation of student-initiated guidelines and monitoring mechanisms at one institution.Acad Med. 2020; 95 (12S Addressing Harmful Bias and Eliminating Discrimination in Health Professions Learning Environments): S145-S14949 - •Review school-collected quantitative and qualitative data on variables that relate to the CCLE and equity and inclusion as part of the annual clerkship review process (eg, metrics that could be related to an inequitable learning environment). Utilize QI techniques to address data systematically. Metrics could include differences in numerical performance and grades by certain demographics. Other data can include the number and type of mistreatment experiences reported by students or a review of student satisfaction with the clerkship to identify areas of concern.
- •Seek out additional verbal feedback from students through non-evaluating staff or faculty because formal course evaluations may not capture inequitable learning experiences.
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
References
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Article Info
Publication History
Footnotes
Funding: None.
Conflicts of Interest: None.
Authorship: All authors had a role in writing this manuscript.