Preparing Medical Students for Anti-racism at the Bedside: Teaching Skills to Mitigate Racism and Bias in Clinical Encounters

Date of Review: January, 2025

This resource aims to equip second-year medical students with the appropriate terminology to use when communicating and documenting patient history to minimize the use of stigmatizing language. It also gives data to support how bias can impact patient care and illustrates examples in which certain vulnerable patients suffer both from bias/stigmatizing language as well as less clinician comfort with identifying certain diagnoses in particular populations due to limited data or lack of proper tools to assess these populations (eg pulse oximeters, dermatologic findings in POC).   I think since this is a self-contained session with pre-work, it would lend itself to being easily incorporated into existing curricula. This allows participants to equip themselves with some foundational knowledge, leaving the session to focus primarily on breakout group discussions and real-world applications of some of the tools and strategies discussed. The session itself is one power point with times to break into small groups for discussion. — Eesha Singh, MD, NCEAS

Corresponding Author’s Email:

cktarlet@hawaii.edu

Institution:

Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons

Where was the Curriculum Implemented:

New York, NY

Relevant Specialty:

Family and Community Medicine

Outcomes that Have Been Reported for the Curriculum:

Learner Satisfaction or reaction

Self-reported learner attitude

Self-reported learner knowledge

Outcome and Study Design:

Pre/Post

Level of Learner Assessment

Appreciation of content/attitude assessment (self-reflection, blogging with rubric)