Closing the Gap in Representation of Racial and Ethnic Minorities in Pain Medicine: A 2018–2019 Status Report
Journal of the National Medical Association(2022)
Abstract
Racial health disparities persist despite increased public awareness of systemic racism. Due to the inherent subjectivity of pain perception, assessment and management, physician-patient bias in pain medicine remains widespread. It is broadly accepted that increasing racial diversity in the field of medicine is a critical step towards addressing persistent inequities in patient care. To assess the current racial demographics of the pain medicine pipeline, we conducted a cross-sectional analysis of medical school matriculants and graduates, residents, and pain fellows in 2018. Our results show that the 2018 anesthesiology residency ERAS applicant pool consisted of 46.2% non-Hispanic White, 7.0% non-Hispanic Black and 5.8% Hispanic students. The population of 2018 anesthesiology residents included 63% non-Hispanic White, 6.8% non-Hispanic Black and 5.4% Hispanic persons. Of the total eligible resident pool for pain fellowships (n = 30,415) drawn from core specialties, 44% were non-Hispanic White, 4.9% non-Hispanic Black and 5.1% Hispanic. Similar proportions were observed for pain medicine and regional anesthesia fellows. We briefly discuss the implications of the shortage of non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic representation in pain medicine as it relates to the COVID-19 pandemic and suggest approaches to improving these disparities.
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Key words
Diversity,Race,Ethnicity,Training,Representation
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