Abstract
INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE:
Historically, urology has had a lack of racial/ethnic diversity in its workforce. In 2019, only 2.0% of practicing urologists were Black and 3.9% Hispanic. Few empirical studies describe trends in urologists who are Under-Represented in Medicine (URM). We aimed to describe the historical trends and current state of racial/ethnic representation within the urology workforce compared to the national population.
METHODS:
Using data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Association of American Medical Colleges, trends in racial/ethnic distribution for 2007-2019 were described for the educational “pipeline” for academic urologists, defined as starting with the U.S. population, leading to medical school application and graduation, then residency application, matching and graduation, and ending with urology faculty appointment. A comparative cohort analysis was done for the 2018-2019 academic year for differences in racial/ethnic distribution across cohorts by binomial tests.
RESULTS:
From 2010-2019, the U.S. Black and Latinx populations increased from 13 to 13.4% and 16 to 18.5% respectively. During that same time, the proportion of Black (3-4%) and Latinx (3-5%) urology residents remained unchanged, despite the increase in total number of residents (N=1043 to 1331). In 2019, there were step-wise decreases in proportion of Black and Latinx members represented at each stage of the educational pipeline, p
CONCLUSIONS:
The proportion of URM urologists was stagnant and did not match the national increase in racial/ethnic diversity during 2010-2019. This may be due to the loss of potential URM urologists at each educational stage. Our findings highlight possible strategies to diversify the urology workforce: diversifying the pool of undergraduates qualified to apply for medical school, targeted support for URM medical students, adequate preparation of URM urology applicants, appraising the equitability of application policies and promoting inclusion for URM faculty retention.
Historically, urology has had a lack of racial/ethnic diversity in its workforce. In 2019, only 2.0% of practicing urologists were Black and 3.9% Hispanic. Few empirical studies describe trends in urologists who are Under-Represented in Medicine (URM). We aimed to describe the historical trends and current state of racial/ethnic representation within the urology workforce compared to the national population.
METHODS:
Using data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Association of American Medical Colleges, trends in racial/ethnic distribution for 2007-2019 were described for the educational “pipeline” for academic urologists, defined as starting with the U.S. population, leading to medical school application and graduation, then residency application, matching and graduation, and ending with urology faculty appointment. A comparative cohort analysis was done for the 2018-2019 academic year for differences in racial/ethnic distribution across cohorts by binomial tests.
RESULTS:
From 2010-2019, the U.S. Black and Latinx populations increased from 13 to 13.4% and 16 to 18.5% respectively. During that same time, the proportion of Black (3-4%) and Latinx (3-5%) urology residents remained unchanged, despite the increase in total number of residents (N=1043 to 1331). In 2019, there were step-wise decreases in proportion of Black and Latinx members represented at each stage of the educational pipeline, p
CONCLUSIONS:
The proportion of URM urologists was stagnant and did not match the national increase in racial/ethnic diversity during 2010-2019. This may be due to the loss of potential URM urologists at each educational stage. Our findings highlight possible strategies to diversify the urology workforce: diversifying the pool of undergraduates qualified to apply for medical school, targeted support for URM medical students, adequate preparation of URM urology applicants, appraising the equitability of application policies and promoting inclusion for URM faculty retention.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | E426-E427 |
| Number of pages | 2 |
| Journal | The Journal of Urology |
| Volume | 206 |
| Issue number | Supplement 3 |
| Early online date | 1 Sept 2021 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Sept 2021 |
