Accepted Type
Dedicated Poster
Code
LP16 - 03
Acceptance Declaration
Accept
Additional Information
- I declare I have no actual or potential conflict of interest in relation to this program.
- Yes, I have/had in the past 2 years, a financial interest, arrangement, or affiliation with one or more organizations that could be perceived as a direct/indirect conflict of interest in the context/content of the subject of this or any other presentation.
Was this work accepted for CCME 2020?
no
Category
General Call (Workshop, Oral Presentation, Poster Presentation)
Type
Poster
Sub Type
Education Research
Will the presenter be a:
Student
Affiliation
Title
Seeing Colour: Representation of skin tones in dermatological manifestations of illness in medical education
Length of Presentation
Background/Purpose
Patients with skin of colour experience worse health outcomes and receive poorer quality of care within the healthcare system. There are pervasive inequities entrenched within medical education which influence these discrepancies. Understanding how components of medical education contribute to inequities is essential to address racial biases in healthcare at their source. This study explored the role of didactic teaching of skin manifestations of illness in perpetuating this disparity in a Canadian context.
Methods
The authors reviewed 980 images across 643 lectures spanning 15 courses throughout two years of preclinical curriculum from September 2018 to May 2020 at a Canadian medical school. Images were categorized according to the Fitzpatrick Scale: Light Tone (LT), Medium/Dark Tone (MDT), and Unclear Tone (UT). The average number of LT and MDT images per lecture was then compared within each core medical course, as well as across the pre-clerkship curriculum in total using paired two-tailed t-tests.
Results
The overall proportions of LT and MDT images were 81.9% and 10.8%, respectively. Comparing the average number of images in the LT and MDT categories per lecture, LT images (1.25) were significantly more abundant than MDT images (0.16) in an overall curricular analysis (p=1.78 E-09). This difference was also observed within the Skin course (LT = 23.4; MDT = 3.4; p = 0.0004).
Conclusion
The disproportionate amount of light skin images in preclinical medical education reproduces inequities and contributes to racial disparity. Medical educators must recognize and address how illness is depicted for diverse patient populations in order to advance equity.
Keyword 1
Equity
Keyword 2
Skin of colour
Keyword 3
Curriculum
Level of Training
Undergraduate
Abstract Themes
Teaching and learning
Teaching and Learning
- Diversity
- Lectures
- Inclusive education
Additional Theme (First choice)
Undergraduate
Additional Theme (Second Choice)
Additional Theme (Third Choice)
Authors
Presenter
Dharini Ilangomaran
Kush Joshi
Term 1
Yes
Term 2
Yes
Term 3
Yes
Term 4
Yes
Term 5
Yes
