140 - Responding to a Call to Action for Health Equity Curriculum Development in Graduate Medical Education: Design, Implementation and Early Results of Leaders in Health Equity (LHE)

Poster Number: 140
Publication Number: 140.217

Raquel G. Hernandez, Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital, St. Petersburg, FL, United States; Darcy Thompson, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, United States; John D. Cowden, Children's Mercy Kansas City, Prairie Village, KS, United States

Background: Recent calls to action have urged graduate medical education leaders to develop health equity-focused curricula to meet new accreditation standards and to redouble efforts addressing racism. Despite this call, examples of health equity curricula demonstrating multi-level impact are lacking. Such curricula could catalyze educational innovations to address training gaps.

Objective: To describe the design, content, and delivery of “Leaders in Health Equity (LHE),” an innovative, health equity-focused curriculum delivered to categorical pediatric residents using multi-modal, service-free retreats.

Design/Methods: This single institution, longitudinal curriculum study occurred between 2014-2020 and reports multi-level outcomes including: 1) impact on trainee’s health equity related knowledge, skills and satisfaction, 2) residency impact and 3) institutional impact.

Results: Trainees (n=72) demonstrated significant improvements in pre (n=41, 57% response rate) and post (n=28, 39% response rate) knowledge and skills related to health equity content (Figure 1) as well as broad acceptance of the LHE format (Table 1). Residents also reported increased preparedness and desire for advanced health equity content over the course of the six-year study period. Residency impact on operations and resources were sustainable with the opportunity for integration of LHE content in other curricular areas noted. Institutional impact included catalyzing organizational health equity initiatives and observing an increase in resident-led quality improvement (QI) projects focused on LHE content.Conclusion(s): On-going adaptation and growth of LHE content to educate increasingly prepared trainees is a critical next step and a best practice for educators in this evolving field. We conclude that developing health equity content within GME programs using a longitudinal, interactive approach and structured opportunities for introspection can effectively fill educational gaps.
Figure 1: Trainee Pre-Post Knowledge and SkillsWe provide a statistical comparison of a 16-item series of questions assessing health equity focused knowledge and skills before and after completing the LHE curriculum.
Leader in Health Equity (LHE): Curriculum Content and EvolutionWe outline how sessions and format were organized and changed over the six-year study period . New content reflected resident feedback and well as contextual events nationally and locally.