Fostering an inclusive environment
While family medicine has come a long way with regards to increasing the amount of underrepresented groups in its specialty, Stephen Richmond, MD, MPH, believes there also needs to be a focus on the infrastructure of support to help retain these physicians.
“The problem of diversity within family medicine and largely in other specialties cannot be summed up simply as a matter of poor representation. We must do be better to understand the lived experience of physicians of color, in particular Black physicians, once they arrive in the medical professional environment. Doing so will help institutions to provide that infrastructure of support – including antiracism policies and practices – that will enhance wellness and representation,” said Dr. Richmond, clinical assistant professor of medicine in the division of primary care and population health at Stanford (Calif.) University.
Dr. Wusu also suggested establishing an explicitly antiracist environment. This can be done in multiple ways, including by holding programs that acknowledge the impact of structural racism on both the patients, medical students and faculty, and by educating staff about the history of racism, she said.
Dr. Stewart and Dr. Wusu think the specialty has improved in its representation of minorities, but that it has a “long way to go.”
“I think family medicine is really one of the more inclusive specialties. I mean, it has higher numbers of Black and Brown residents and physicians than other specialties,” Dr. Wusu said. “We still have a very long way to go to be at numbers that match the general population. But I think, in that way, family medicine is a place where a lot of Black and Brown physicians can find a home.”