Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Sep 29;5(Suppl 1):S82-S86.
doi: 10.1002/aet2.10667. eCollection 2021 Sep.

Planning for diverse, equitable, inclusive research in health professions education: An integral thread in the ARMED MedEd research course

Wendy C Coates  1 , Lalena M Yarris  2 , Teresa Y Smith  3 ; Emergency Medicine Health Professions Education Research Consortium (EMPERC)
Affiliations

Planning for diverse, equitable, inclusive research in health professions education: An integral thread in the ARMED MedEd research course

Wendy C Coates et al. AEM Educ Train. .

Abstract

Racism in medicine affects patients, trainees, and practitioners and contributes to health care inequities. An effective strategy to actively oppose the structural racism ingrained in the fabric of medicine is to intentionally and systematically address diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in medical education and research. As part of ARMED MedEd, a new longitudinal cohort course in advanced research methods in medical education, sponsored by the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine, the leadership team deliberately included a nested DEI curriculum. The goal of the DEI curriculum is to reduce bias in development, recruitment, and implementation of education research studies to promote equity and inclusion in medical education, research, and ultimately, patient care. A team of medical educators with expertise in DEI developed curricular elements focusing on DEI in education research. The two major components are a didactic curriculum (including implicit bias training) to teach researchers to consider equity as they design studies and a consultative service to refine research protocols to address lingering unintended bias. A dedicated focus on DEI can be incorporated into an advanced education research methodology course to raise awareness and provide tools to avoid bias in research design and implementation of interventions. Over time, the network of education researchers who are trained in DEI awareness will grow and provide equitable offerings to their learners to mitigate health inequities.

Keywords: continuing education; curriculum; faculty development; health care disparities; medical education; racism; research design.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Dr. Coates serves on the Board of Directors of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine, the organization that sponsors ARMED MedEd. She recused herself from the vote for approval. The other authors have no potential conflicts to disclose.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
ARMED MedEd participants indicate perceived barriers to diversity recruitment
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
The ARMED MedEd DEI curriculum combines flipped classroom, live didactics, small‐group interactions, and an ongoing consultations service to reduce bias in medical education research. DEI, diversity, equity, and inclusion
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Veal CT. At the intersection of fear, grief, and love. Ann Intern Med. 2020;17(10):848‐849. - PubMed
    1. Amutah C, Greenridge K, Mante A, et al. Misrepresenting race ‐ The role of medical schools in propagating physician bias. N Engl J Med. 2021;384(9):872‐878. - PubMed
    1. U.S. Public Health Service Study at Tuskegee . Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . 2020. Accessed April 26, 2021. https://www.cdc.gov/tuskegee/timeline.htm
    1. Warren RC, Clare CA, Villanueva R, Pinn VW. In the interest of science or humanity: J. Marion Sims was wrong then and now! J Natl Med Assoc. 2020;112(2):233‐236. - PubMed
    1. Humphrey HJ, Levinson D, Nivet MA, Schoenbaum SC. Addressing harmful bias and eliminating discrimination in health professions learning environments: an urgent challenge. Acad Med. 2020;95(12S):S1‐S4. - PubMed