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AAIM Recommendations to Promote Equity in the Clerkship Clinical Learning Environment

      Perspectives Viewpoints
      • 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

      Despite widespread recognition of inequities related to sex, race, and ethnicity in undergraduate medical education, effective solutions have been difficult to identify. In this perspective, the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine (AAIM) focuses on issues specific to the clerkship clinical learning environment (CCLE).
      The pre-clerkship classroom tends to be closely regulated, with standards provided by leadership and understood by teachers and learners. In contrast, the CCLE is more variable, with multiple clinical, structural, systems-based, and educational factors that may introduce or amplify inequities in learner experiences.
      Adapted from the definition of health equity, educational equity describes the concept that all learners have the opportunity to attain their full potential without structural or social barriers.
      National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
      Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity.
      Educational equity in the CCLE depends on clerkship and other medical education leaders sharing a mental model of the CCLE scope. These recommendations are based on a conceptual framework for the clinical learning and working environment (LWE) AAIM developed in 2017.
      • Jaffe RC
      • Bergin CR
      • Loo LK
      • et al.
      Nested domains: a global conceptual model for optimizing the clinical learning environment.
      While these recommendations come from the perspective of clerkship leaders, the Alliance recognizes that inequities in the CCLE are not isolated to clerkships and therefore, recommends that clerkship and other medical education leaders collaborate to develop and implement interventions.

      AAIM Conceptual Model to Optimize the Learning Environment

      In 2017, AAIM created a conceptual model to describe the LWE.
      • Jaffe RC
      • Bergin CR
      • Loo LK
      • et al.
      Nested domains: a global conceptual model for optimizing the clinical learning environment.
      This model describes 4 factors that interact dynamically: interconnectedness of all domains in the medical education continuum, learners at multiple stages, central role of the patient, and sociocultural context. The model also describes 4 domains through which educators can view the LWE: personal, relational, curricular, and structural. These domains can be used to categorize factors that impact the learning environment when analyzing and planning innovations. The recommendations to promote educational equity in the CCLE are organized by these domains (Table).
      • Jaffe RC
      • Bergin CR
      • Loo LK
      • et al.
      Nested domains: a global conceptual model for optimizing the clinical learning environment.
      TableRecommendations to Promote Equity in the Clerkship Clinical Learning Environment (CCLE) Using the AAIM Conceptual Model
      AAIM Conceptual Model Domain and DefinitionSuggested TopicsRecommendations 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 ClerkshipsFeasibility (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.
      PersonalImposter syndrome and stereotype threat
      • Educate students and faculty/resident supervisors about imposter syndrome and stereotype threat and their impact on learners’ experiences
      • Encourage faculty/resident supervisors to share their experiences with imposter syndrome or stereotype threat and share helpful strategies.
      Moderate
      The lens through which a learner experiences the CCLE and the intrinsic qualities the learner adds.
      Growth mindset
      • Encourage students to self-identify learning goals and participate in creating their own learning action plans.
      • Educate faculty/resident supervisors in self-theories and how to foster a growth mindset.
      Low to Moderate
      RelationalPsychological safety
      • Provide faculty and residents with resources and support to help them develop the skills to cultivate a climate of psychological safety in the CCLE.
      • Incorporate techniques such as inviting input from all team members, active listening, debriefing, engaging in effective feedback to engender trust and build alliances.
      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
      • Incorporate implicit bias recognition and management training in faculty and resident development programs.
      • Educate teams on how to recognize and address all forms of mistreatment.
      Low to Moderate
      CurricularCultural humility, inclusivity, and belonging
      • Include DEI in the curriculum objectives.
      • Be intentional with the use of race, gender and sexual identity in teaching cases and materials.
      • Do not use race routinely in the HPI. If race or ancestry is relevant to the case, it may be discussed in the social history, or in family history.
      • Teach how to ask about an individual's self-identified racial, ethnic, gender and sexual identities, preferred language, and accommodations used or needed.
      • Teach and model use of preferred name, pronunciation, and pronouns in classroom and clinical settings.
      • Acknowledge the current controversies in race-based medicine practice such as the use of race in clinical algorithms and study interpretation.
      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.
      StructuralUse of certified interpreters
      • Recommend teams work with assigned certified interpreters. Discourage using students as ad-hoc interpreters.
      • Allow certified student interpreters to volunteer to interpret for team patients (opt-in approach).
      • Encourage all students to work with patients with limited English proficiency and to utilize interpretive services.
      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”
      • Create a “request for application” (RFA) process for all clerkship teaching and mentoring opportunities. The RFA 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.
      High
      Educational continuous quality improvement
      • Regularly review school-collected data that relates to the CCLE and equity and inclusion, as part of the annual clerkship review.
      • Seek out additional verbal feedback from students through non-evaluating staff or faculty, as formal course evaluations may not capture inequitable learning experiences.
      • Build centrally-supported, anonymous reporting mechanisms to gather student reports about the CCLE and mistreatment.
      Moderate to High
      Adapted from Table 2 of Jaffe et al, 2019.2
      AAIM = Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine; DEI = diversity, equity, and inclusion; HPI = history of present illness; UIM = underrepresented in medicine.
      low asterisk 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

      Acknowledging Imposter Syndrome and Stereotype Threat

      Imposter syndrome is the syndrome of persistent self-doubt despite personal accomplishment. Prevalent in medical professionals, it has been demonstrated to be higher in women and groups historically underrepresented in medicine (UIM).
      • Bravata DM
      • Watts SA
      • Keefer AL
      • et al.
      Prevalence, predictors, and treatment of impostor syndrome: a systematic review.
      It has been associated with lower job performance, lower job satisfaction, and higher burnout.
      • Villwock JA
      • Sobin LB
      • Koester LA
      • Harris TM
      Impostor syndrome and burnout among American medical students: a pilot study.
      Stereotype threat describes when an individual's concern for confirming negative stereotypes about their identity group leads to underperformance in a given domain.
      • Bullock JL
      • Lockspeiser T
      • Del Pino-Jones A
      • Richards R
      • Teherani A
      • Hauer KE
      They don't see a lot of people my color: a mixed methods study of racial/ethnic stereotype threat among medical students on core clerkships.
      As students transition among clerkships, teams, and systems, they may acutely experience both phenomena, which may then diminish their sense of belonging and affect their ability to perform well in the CCLE. Systemic factors such as a lack of diverse role models may amplify these feelings. Familiarity with these concepts is therefore important for learners and their faculty/resident supervisors.
      Recommendations
      • Educate students and faculty/resident supervisors about imposter syndrome and stereotype threat and their impact on learner experiences. This content
        • Rivera N
        • Feldman EA
        • Augustin DA
        • Caceres W
        • Gans HA
        • Blankenburg R
        Do I belong here? Confronting imposter syndrome at an individual, peer, and institutional level in health professionals.
        ,

        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.

        can be introduced during the pre-clerkship curriculum and in the clerkship curriculum with students and supervisors.
      • Encourage faculty/resident supervisors to share their experiences with imposter syndrome or stereotype threat and share helpful strategies.

      Fostering a Growth Mindset

      When individuals hold a growth mindset, they believe that abilities can improve through challenge and learning from failure.
      • Dweck CS
      Self-theories: Their Role in Motivation, Personality, and Development.
      Alternatively, when individuals hold a fixed mindset, they believe that characteristics such as talent are immutable. Attending to a growth mindset and mastery orientation in the CCLE may cultivate an environment that allows students to meet their full potential.
      • Canning EA
      • Muenks K
      • Green DJ
      • Murphy MC
      STEM faculty who believe ability is fixed have larger racial achievement gaps and inspire less student motivation in their classes.
      • Theard MA
      • Marr MC
      • Harrison R
      The growth mindset for changing medical education culture.
      • Richardson D
      • Kinnear B
      • Hauer KE
      • et al.
      Growth mindset in competency-based medical education.
      Recommendations
      • Encourage students to self-identify learning goals and participate in creating their own learning action plans.
      • Train faculty/resident supervisors in self-theories
        • Theard MA
        • Marr MC
        • Harrison R
        The growth mindset for changing medical education culture.
        and how to foster a growth mindset.

      Relational

      Cultivating Psychological Safety

      Psychological safety describes a person's perceptions of the consequences of taking interpersonal risks in a particular context, such as a workplace, and is a critical factor in teamwork and team learning.
      • Edmondson AC
      • Zhike L
      Psychological safety: the history, renaissance, and future of an interpersonal construct.
      Tsuei et al
      • Tsuei SH
      • Lee D
      • Ho C
      • Regehr G
      • Nimmon L.
      Exploring the construct of psychological safety in medical education.
      describe psychological safety in medical education as the “state of feeling freed from a sense of judgment by others such that learners can authentically and wholeheartedly concentrate on engaging with a learning task without a perceived need to self-monitor their projected image.” When faculty/resident supervisors foster psychological safety, they strengthen team dynamics, allowing students to feel safe to explore difficult topics, take risks, and acknowledge their limits.
      • Tsuei SH
      • Lee D
      • Ho C
      • Regehr G
      • Nimmon L.
      Exploring the construct of psychological safety in medical education.
      ,
      • Torralba KD
      • Jose D
      • Byrne
      Psychological safety, the hidden curriculum, and ambiguity in medicine.
      Recommendations
      • Provide faculty and residents with resources

        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.

        and support to help them develop the skills to cultivate a climate of psychological safety in the CCLE.
      • 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.
        • Torralba KD
        • Jose D
        • Byrne
        Psychological safety, the hidden curriculum, and ambiguity in medicine.
        ,

        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.

        Examples 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.

        that can be used in either team settings or one-on-one situations include:
        • “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

      Implicit bias refers to attitudes or stereotypes that unconsciously affect our understanding, actions, and decisions. They can be difficult to recognize, acknowledge, and manage, and can have negative consequences on the CCLE, learners and faculty, clinical decision-making, and quality of care.
      • Greenwald AG
      • Banaji MR
      The implicit revolution: reconceiving the relation between conscious and unconscious.
      ,
      • Backhus LM
      • Lui NS
      • Cooke DT
      • Bush EL
      • Enumah Z
      • Higgins R
      Unconscious bias: addressing the hidden impact on surgical education.
      When faculty and learners confront their own biases
      • Sukhera J
      • Watling C
      A framework for integrating implicit bias recognition into health professions education.
      and understand the sociocultural context for their biases, they can foster mutual understanding and respect, as well as unlearn stereotypes.
      • Boscardin CK
      Reducing implicit bias through curricular interventions.
      Mistreatment encompasses microaggressions (the subtle, intentional or unintentional, insults or behaviors against a member of a historically marginalized group) and macroaggressions (the overt aggressions and discrimination against a member of a historically marginalized group).
      • Sue DW
      • Capodilupo CM
      • Torino GC
      • et al.
      Racial microaggressions in everyday life: implications for clinical practice.
      Microaggressions in the CCLE can cause psychological distress, depression, and anxiety
      • Torres L
      • Driscoll MW
      • Burrow AL
      Racial microaggressions and psychological functioning among highly achieving African-Americans: a mixed-methods approach.
      by, for example, triggering stereotype threat and increased cognitive load.
      • Bullock JL
      • Lockspeiser T
      • Del Pino-Jones A
      • Richards R
      • Teherani A
      • Hauer KE
      They don't see a lot of people my color: a mixed methods study of racial/ethnic stereotype threat among medical students on core clerkships.
      Mistreatment from patients also affects emotional well-being and detracts from the CCLE.
      • Wheeler M
      • de Bourmont S
      • Paul-Emile K
      • et al.
      Physician and trainee experiences with patient bias.
      Students have described uncertainty about how to respond to these encounters.
      • Wheeler M
      • de Bourmont S
      • Paul-Emile K
      • et al.
      Physician and trainee experiences with patient bias.
      Recommendations
      • 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.
          • Sukhera J
          • Watling C
          A framework for integrating implicit bias recognition into health professions education.
          ,
          • Gonzalez CM
          • Walker SA
          • Rodriguez N
          • Noah YS
          • Marantz PR
          Implicit bias recognition and management in interpersonal encounters and the learning environment: a skills-based curriculum for medical students.
        • 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.
          • Bullock JL
          • O'Brien MT
          • Minhas PK
          • Fernandez A
          • Lupton KL
          • Hauer KE
          No one size fits all: a qualitative study of clerkship medical students' perceptions of ideal supervisor responses to microaggressions.
          ,
          • Sotto-Santiago S
          • Mac J
          • Duncan F
          • Smith J
          “I didn’t know what to say”: responding to racism, discrimination, and microaggressions with the OWTFD approach.
          This approach promotes psychological safety and empowers the student.
          • Bullock JL
          • O'Brien MT
          • Minhas PK
          • Fernandez A
          • Lupton KL
          • Hauer KE
          No one size fits all: a qualitative study of clerkship medical students' perceptions of ideal supervisor responses to microaggressions.
          Include 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

      Although educators have long used cultural competency as a framework for education about race, culture, and social determinants of health, there is growing recognition that this framework may have the unintended consequence of propagating stereotypes.
      • Acquaviva KD
      • Mintz M
      Perspective: are we teaching racial profiling? The dangers of subjective determinations of race and ethnicity in case presentations.
      Educators are therefore reframing the competency as cultural humility, reflecting a more self-aware and inclusive perspective. A review of clerkship teaching cases identified 6 common mistakes faculty make when using race and culture in teaching materials.
      • Krishnan A
      • Rabinowitz M
      • Ziminsky A
      • Scott SM
      • Chretien KC
      Addressing race, culture, and structural inequality in medical education: a guide for revising teaching cases.
      They include using race as a genetic risk factor without acknowledging the social and structural causes of disparities; associating disease with individual behaviors without providing the context of social and structural factors; describing patients using reductionist and essentialist portrayals of non-Western cultures and people of color; ignoring or portraying a sense of futility in addressing social and structural causes of disease and illness; developing cases that lack critical reflection on health disparities and implicit bias; and not portraying minority identities among faculty, students, and patients that accurately reflect the current US population.
      • Krishnan A
      • Rabinowitz M
      • Ziminsky A
      • Scott SM
      • Chretien KC
      Addressing race, culture, and structural inequality in medical education: a guide for revising teaching cases.
      Inclusion of education on gender, sex, and sexuality is also critical for promoting equity in medical education.
      Gay and Lesbian Medical Association (GLMA)
      Guidelines for Care of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Patients.
      Recommendations
      • 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.”

        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.
        • Krishnan A
        • Rabinowitz M
        • Ziminsky A
        • Scott SM
        • Chretien KC
        Addressing race, culture, and structural inequality in medical education: a guide for revising teaching cases.
        ,
        • Dogra N
        • Reitmanova S
        • Carter-Pokras O
        Twelve tips for teaching diversity and embedding it in the medical curriculum.
        To 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.
        • Amutah C
        • Greenidge K
        • Mante A
        • et al.
        Misrepresenting race – the role of medical schools in propagating physician bias.
        ,
        • Olufadeji A
        • Dubosh NM
        • Landry A
        Guidelines on the use of race as patient identifiers in clinical presentations.
      • Teach how to ask about an individual's self-identified racial, ethnic, gender, and sexual identities,
        • Potter LA
        • Burnett-Bowie SM
        • Potter J
        Teaching medical students how to ask patients questions about identity, intersectionality, and resilience.
        preferred language, and accommodations used or needed.
      • Teach and role model use of preferred name, pronunciation, and pronouns in orientation, classroom, and clinical settings.
        Gay and Lesbian Medical Association (GLMA)
        Guidelines for Care of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Patients.
      • 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).
        • Vyas DA
        • Eisenstein LG
        • Jones DS
        Hidden in plain sight – reconsidering the use of race correction in clinical algorithms.
        For example, state that there is a widespread current discussion about race-based medical practice, and that it is important and it is evolving.
        • Cerdeña JP
        • Plaisime MV
        • Tsai J
        From race-based to race-conscious medicine: how anti-racist uprisings call us to act.
      • Contextualize group differences in disease/illness burden by identifying social determinants of health and racism rather than race as risk factors for illness.
        • Amutah C
        • Greenidge K
        • Mante A
        • et al.
        Misrepresenting race – the role of medical schools in propagating physician bias.
        ,
        • Paradies Y
        • Ben J
        • Denson N
        • et al.
        Racism as a determinant of health: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

      Structural

      Use of Certified Interpreters

      Professional interpreters have been shown to improve the care for patients with limited English proficiency (LEP) in the areas of communication (errors and comprehension), utilization (shorter length of stay and lower readmission rates), clinical outcomes, and satisfaction.
      • Karliner LS
      • Jacobs EA
      • Chen AH
      • Mutha S
      Do professional interpreters improve clinical care for patients with limited English proficiency? A systematic review of the literature.
      ,
      • Lindholm M
      • Hargraves JL
      • Ferguson WJ
      • Reed G
      Professional language interpretation and inpatient length of stay and readmission rates.
      Professional interpretation services are required by law at any institution receiving federal funding (Title VI of the Civil Right Act and the Executive Order 13166).
      • Chen AH
      • Youdelman MK
      • Brooks J
      The legal framework for language access in healthcare settings: Title VI and beyond.
      Students who speak a second language may be asked to interpret for patients with LEP even when not fluent or certified.
      • Vela MB
      • Fritz CF
      • Press VG
      • Girotti JG
      Medical students' experiences and perspectives on interpreting for LEP patients at two U.S. medical schools.
      Use of ad hoc interpreters has been demonstrated to compromise patient safety and patient care.
      • Flores G
      • Laws M
      • Mayo S
      • et al.
      Errors in medical interpretation and their potential clinical consequences in pediatric encounters.
      While interpreting can be an opportunity for students to contribute to patient care, it can detract from their role as a learner. Maintaining a distinction between their clinical and interpreter roles can be challenging and can introduce inequities.
      • Aitken G
      Medical students as certified interpreters.
      Recommendations
      • 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

      Faculty from UIM groups are often asked to take on extra responsibilities in medical education, for example, mentoring UIM learners or teaching DEI-related concepts. While many UIM faculty may take pride in contributing to DEI efforts, they are often not compensated or given time to support their efforts, which has been described as a “minority tax.”
      • Rodríguez JE
      • Campbell KM
      • Pololi LH
      Addressing disparities in academic medicine: what of the minority tax?.
      Educational leaders may be prone to affinity bias, the unconscious favoring of faculty with shared connections or backgrounds.
      • Banaji MR
      • Greenwald AG
      Blindspot, Hidden Biases of Good People.
      This bias may cause leaders to preferentially offer educational opportunities and possible career advancement to certain faculty members.
      Recommendations
      • 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

      Adopting a culture of quality improvement (QI) means shifting focus from individual blame to system responsibility.
      • Christakis NA
      Don't just blame the system.
      The educational continuous QI process includes monitoring programmatic variables related to identity to evaluate for differences between groups and a review of mistreatment reports submitted by students to assess for bias-related events and opportunity for action.
      • Colson ER
      • Pérez M
      • Blaylock L
      • et al.
      Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis case study: a process for understanding and addressing bias in clerkship grading.
      • Lucey CR
      • Hauer KE
      • Boatright D
      • Fernandez A
      Medical education's wicked problem: achieving equity in assessment for medical learners.
      • 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.
      It is critical to adopt an approach of system responsibility to support psychological safety and encourage growth mindset in supervisors.
      Recommendations
      • 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.
        • 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.
        ,
        • Plews-Ogan ML
        • Bell TD
        • Townsend G
        • Canterbury RJ
        • Wilkes DS
        Acting wisely: eliminating negative bias in medical education-part 2: how can we do better?.
      • 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

      In this article, AAIM describes evidence-based recommendations to address inequities in the CCLE using our conceptual model as a framework. The Alliance believes that clerkship leaders and other medical education leaders can partner together to address and implement strategies to promote equity in the CCLE.

      Acknowledgments

      The authors would like to thank the Clerkship Directors in Internal Medicine Council: Monica Vela, MD, for her contributions to the section on use of certified interpreters; and James N. Woodruff, MD, for his contribution to the growth mindset section.

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