A framework to improve retention of Black surgical trainees: A Society of Black Academic Surgeons white paper

Mohammed O. Suraju, Department of Surgery, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, IA, United States.
Lisa McElroy, Department of Surgery, Duke University Hospital, Durham, NC, United States.
Ambria Moten, Department of Surgery, The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, United States.
Samilia Obeng-Gyasi, Department of Surgery, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH, United States.
Yewande Alimi, Department of Surgery, Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington, DC, United States.
Damien Carter, Department of Surgery, Maine Medical Center, Portland, ME, United States.Follow
Denis A. Foretia, Department of Surgery, The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, United States.
Sahael Stapleton, Department of Surgery, Kaiser Permanente Vacaville Medical Center, Vacaville, CA, United States.
Mignote Yilma, Department of Surgery, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States.
Vincent J. Reid, Department of Surgery, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, IA, United States; Department of Surgery, Mercy Medical Center Cedar Rapids, Cedar Rapids, IA, United States.
Hassan A. Tetteh, Department of Surgery, Uniformed Services University, Bethesda, MD, United States.
Dineo Khabele, Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Washington University School of Medicine, And Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center, St Louis, MO, United States.
Luz M. Rodriguez, Gastrointestinal and Other Cancers Research Group, Division of Cancer Prevention, NCI, NIH, Bethesda, MD, United States; Department of Surgery, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMM) Uniformed Services University (USU), Bethesda, MD, United States.
Andre Campbell, Department of Surgery, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States.
Erika A. Newman, Section of Pediatric Surgery, Department of Surgery, CS Mott Children's Hospital, The University of Michigan Medical School, United States. Electronic address: eanewman@med.umich.edu.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-16-2023

Journal Title

American journal of surgery

Abstract

Attrition is high among surgical trainees, and six of ten trainees consider leaving their programs, with two ultimately leaving before completion of training. Given known historically and systemically rooted biases, Black surgical trainees are at high risk of attrition during residency training. With only 4.5% of all surgical trainees identifying as Black, underrepresentation among their peers can lend to misclassification of failure to assimilate as clinical incompetence. Furthermore, the disproportionate impact of ongoing socioeconomic crisis (e.g., COVID-19 pandemic, police brutality etc.) on Black trainees and their families confers additional challenges that may exacerbate attrition rates. Thus, attrition is a significant threat to medical workforce diversity and health equity. There is urgent need for surgical programs to develop proactive approaches to address attrition and the threat to the surgical workforce. In this Society of Black Academic Surgeons (SBAS) white paper, we provide a framework that promotes an open and inclusive environment conducive to the retention of Black surgical trainees, and continued progress towards attainment of health equity for racial and ethnic minorities in the United States.

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