Successful Efforts to Increase Diversity in a Cardiology Fellowship Training Program

Abstract

Background A large volume of literature has documented racial disparities in the delivery of cardiovascular care in the United States and that decreased access to procedures and undertreatment lead to worse outcomes. A lack of diversity among physicians is considered to be a major contributor. The fellowship training program in cardiovascular medicine at The Ohio State University Medical Center had never trained a fellow from a minority group underrepresented in medicine (URM) before 2007. Intervention In 2005, the fellowship made it a priority to recruit and match URM candidates in an effort to address the community's lack of diversity and disparities in cardiovascular care. Methods Program leaders revised the recruitment process, making diversity a high priority. Faculty met with members of diverse residency programs during visits to other institutions, the focus of interview day was changed to highlight mentorship, additional targeted postinterview communications reached out to highly competitive applicants, and a regular mentoring program was constructed to allow meaningful interaction with URM faculty and fellows. Results Since these changes were implemented, the program has successfully matched a URM fellow for 5 consecutive years. Such candidates currently make up 4 of 16 total trainees (25%) in the fellowship in cardiovascular medicine. Conclusions The cardiovascular medicine fellowship training program at The Ohio State University was able to revise recruitment to attract competitive URM applicants as part of a concerted effort. Other educational programs facing similar challenges may be able to learn from the university's experiences.

Can a Strategic Pipeline Initiative Increase the Number of Women and Underrepresented Minorities in Orthopaedic Surgery?

“…However, there are data to support the efficacy of certain strategies that increase physician workforce diversity. These include (1) early exposure to specialty fields; (2) addressing educational gaps; (3) mentoring; (4) the presence of and interaction with faculty reflective of women and underrepresented minority groups; and (5) the development of an institutional culture or network that is supportive of women and minority physicians [ 1 , 6 ].…”

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“…Nationwide, efforts such as these need to be maintained, strengthened, studied, and the successful efforts magnified and duplicated. A recent report [47] describes The Ohio State University's successful efforts to diversify its cardiology fellowship training program. Important strategic acts were the following: (1) recruiting, (2) making diversity a top priority when ranking physician candidates for the National Residency Match Program, and (3) incorporating lectures on health care disparities into our cardiology Grand Rounds series.…”

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“…For example, making diversity a priority in recruitment efforts in a cardiology fellowship training program increased the number of fellows from underrepresented backgrounds by 25% (Auseon et al, 2013). This was accomplished by the formation of subcommittees whose sole purpose was to review and rank applications from underrepresented minority candidates, by reaching out to already diverse residency programs to seek potential candidates, and by encouraging targeted postinterview communication with competitive underrepresented applicants (Auseon et al, 2013). Similarly, the number of minority applicants to orthopedic surgery residency programs was shown to be dramatically increased from medical schools that provide exposure to the field as part of the required medical school curriculum (Bernstein et al, 2004).…”