Reflect and Reset: Black Academic Voices Call the Graduate Medical Education Community to Action

Authors

Anita K. Blanchard, A.K. Blanchard is retired professor, Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, and former associate dean for graduate medical education and designated institutional official, University of Chicago Medicine, Chicago, Illinois; ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8904-8518.
Janice C. Blanchard, J.C. Blanchard is professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, George Washington University, Washington, DC; ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7230-2583.
Ashley Suah, A. Suah was a resident graduate, Department of Surgery, University of Chicago Medicine, Chicago, Illinois, at the time of writing and is now a fellow, Department of Surgery, Transplant Surgery, Emory Healthcare, Atlanta, Georgia.
Adrianne Dade, A. Dade is associate professor, Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, and residency program director, University of Chicago Medicine, Chicago, Illinois; ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3088-9640.
Alanna Burnett, A. Burnett was a resident graduate, Department of Pediatrics, University of Chicago, Medicine, Chicago, Illinois, at the time of writing and is now a fellow, Department of Pediatrics, Allergy and Immunology, Northwestern Medicine, Chicago, Illinois.
William McDade, W. McDade is chief diversity, equity, and inclusion officer, Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, Chicago, Illinois, and adjunct professor, Department of Anesthesiology, Rush Medical College, Chicago, Illinois; ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1068-8702.

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

3-15-2022

Journal

Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges

DOI

10.1097/ACM.0000000000004664

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the great achievements that the biomedical community can accomplish, but raised the question: Can the same medical community that developed a complex vaccine in less than a year during a pandemic, help to defeat social injustice and ameliorate the epidemic of health inequity? In this perspective, the authors, a group of Black academics, call on the graduate medical education (GME) community to reset its trajectory toward solutions for achieving diversity, improving inclusion, and combating racism using education as the new vector. Sponsoring institutions, which include universities, academic medical centers, teaching hospitals, and teaching health centers, are the center of the creation and dissemination of scholarship. They are often the main sources of care for many historically marginalized communities. The GME learning environment must provide the next generation of medical professionals with an understanding of how racism continues to have a destructive influence on health care professionals and their patients. Residents have the practical experience of longitudinal patient care, and a significant portion of an individual's professional identity is formed during GME; therefore, this is a key time to address explicit stereotyping and to identify implicit bias at the individual level. The authors propose three main reset strategies for GME-incorporating inclusive pedagogy and structural competency into education, building a diverse and inclusive learning environment, and activating community investment-as well as tactics that sponsoring institutions can adapt to address racism at the individual learner, medical education program, and institutional levels. Sustained, comprehensive, and systematic implementation of multiple tactics could make a significant impact. It is an academic and moral imperative for the medical community to contribute to the design and implementation of solutions that directly address racism, shifting how resident physicians are educated and modelling just and inclusive behaviors for the next generation of medical leaders.

APA Citation

Blanchard, Anita K.; Blanchard, Janice C.; Suah, Ashley; Dade, Adrianne; Burnett, Alanna; and McDade, William, "Reflect and Reset: Black Academic Voices Call the Graduate Medical Education Community to Action" (2022). GW Authored Works. Paper 586.
https://hsrc.himmelfarb.gwu.edu/gwhpubs/586

Department

Emergency Medicine