“It's Hard to Have a Multiple-Choice Test”: Teaching Equity in the Health Professions

• In Event: Social Justice Approaches in Professions Education

Abstract

Racism has historically been embedded within American medical structures. Because changing the compositional diversity of health professions is insufficient to address health inequity, educators have called for actively teaching students and clinicians about equity and antiracism. The purpose of this paper is to understand how faculty in a school of health professions teach about health equity and to identify the types of support that would assist them in that work. We conducted an exploratory qualitative study to understand faculty perceptions of their teaching practice in a school of health professions in the southeastern United States. Instructors expressed desire to try new approaches to teaching about equity but were looking for support in how to further engage students and improve assessment.

Authors

• Ashley H. Mullen, Baylor College of Medicine

• Amandi J. Rhett, Baylor University

• Isabel Valdez, Baylor College of Medicine

• Chantell Thompson, Baylor College of Medicine

• Frank Fernandez, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Tyler Derreth, Johns Hopkins University