Revolutionizing Health Professions Admissions to Achieve an Inclusive Workforce

Abstract

This article describes the "The Admissions Revolution: Bold Strategies for Diversifying the Healthcare Workforce" conference, which preceded the 2022 Beyond Flexner Alliance Conference and called for health professions institutions to boldly reimagine the admission process to diversify the health care workforce. Proposed strategies encompassed 4 key themes: admission metrics, aligning admission practices with institutional mission, community partnerships to fulfill social mission, and student support and retention. Transformation of the health professions admission process requires broad institutional and individual effort. Careful consideration and implementation of these practices will help institutions achieve greater workforce diversity and catalyze progress toward health equity.

Obstacles and Opportunities on the Path to Improving Health Professions Education and Practice: Lessons From HRSA’s Academic Units for Primary Care Training and Enhancement

“…They describe a dissemination platform offering a large collection of curated curricular resources that health professions educators seeking to teach about this topic might use with their students and trainees. Beyond curricular content, the article by Nguyen and colleagues 26 emphasizes the need to admit students most likely to fulfill mission-driven needs. Their special report of the 2022 Beyond Flexner Alliance preconference, The Admissions Revolution: Bold Strategies for Diversifying the Healthcare Workforce, focuses on revising the admissions process to increase the diversity of future generations of clinicians.…”

A Call to Promote Interventions for Increased Diversity in Health Professions Programs—Beyond Trends

“…Diversity initiatives have long been pervasive in health professions education and have experienced a surge of interest and attention since 2020, but as Majerczyk and colleagues demonstrate, these efforts have failed to correct underrepresentation in the health professions. While many well-intentioned diversity initiatives focus on solutions that target individual URM students, it is crucial to recognize the systemic challenges that contribute to their underrepresentation. Although all students, majority and minority, need support throughout their careers, evidence suggests systemic factors, including bias in assessment and the learning environment, unfairly disadvantage URM students in the health professions .…”