Building a diverse health professions workforce? Changes in enrollment and completion among underserved populations in grant supported health professions pathways (original) (raw)
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Minority health professions enrichment programs (MHPEP) have improved the viability of the healthcare workforce in promoting health equity. Improving the number of graduating underrepresented minorities (URM) into the health professions has been noted a key strategy for eliminating health disparities. A historical review of policy and funding efforts concludes variation in strategies to address minority health issues. Reductions in governmental programs such as Title VII and anti-Affirmative Action in education perpetuated environmental chaos and inverted much of the progress made in graduating increased numbers of underrepresented minority health workers. Some of the most pervasive cases for change faced by the Obama administration in developing the health reform law included addressing the issue of health disparities from an access, cost and quality perspective while ensuring a plan to address sustainability of the health care workforce. Addressing the workforce concerns included providing strategies for the incumbent health care professional shortages and reviewing the rate at which change is impacting the rapidly growing ethnically diverse population. The University of Illinois at Chicago Urban Health Program (UIC UHP) is a MHPEP designed to support the recruitment, retention and graduation of URMs into the health professions and was put into action by the development of a legislative mandate organized in response to community protests over the lack of adequate health care services to the poor and underprivileged. To date UIC UHP has graduated more than 5000 URMs into the health professions. A ten-year longitudinal case analysis of the UIC UHP program performance outcomes and perspectives of URM providers identified the sustainable critical success factors that are proven to be deployable within traditional academic programs in support of strategic health equity methodologies and developing enhanced parity among patients and providers.
The impact of local health professions education grants: is it worth the investment?
Canadian Medical Education Journal, 2021
Background Local grants programs are important since funding for medical education research is limited. Understanding which factors predict successful outcomes is highly relevant to administrators. The purpose of this project was to identify factors that contribute to the publication of local medical education grants in a Canadian context. Methods Surveys were distributed to previous Department of Innovation in Medical Education (DIME) and Department of Medicine (DOM) grant recipients (n = 115) to gather information pertaining to PI demographics and research outcomes. A backward logistic regression was used to determine the effects several variables on publication success. Results The overall publication rate was 64/115 (56%). Due to missing data, 91 grants were included in the logistic regression. Variables associated with a higher rate of publication; cross departmental compared to single department OR = 2.82 (p = 0.04), being presented OR = 3.30 (p = 0.01), and multiple grant acq...
Increasing Diversity in the Health Professions: Reflections on Student Pipeline Programs
Journal of healthcare, science and the humanities, 2016
Despite major advances and technological improvements in public health and medicine, health disparities persist by race and ethnicity, income and educational attainment, and in some cases are increasing (Jackson & Garcia, 2014). These health disparities among these populations have even worsened or remained about the same since the landmark 1985 Report of the Secretary's Task Force on Black & Minority Health released by then Secretary Margaret M. Heckler. Ensuring diverse public health and healthcare workforces to provide services to diverse populations, in combination with other strategies, can increase access to and quality of healthcare for vulnerable populations and decrease healthcare disparities. One mechanism for achieving a diverse public health and healthcare workforce is to establish, promote, and conduct student training programs in public health. The Office of Minority Health and Health Equity, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has partnered with inst...
Journal of best practices in health professions diversity : research, education and policy, 2019
School-industry partnerships bring invaluable cognitive and material resources to K-12 but might inadvertently contribute to widening the achievement gap. Lack of social capital and industry connections make urban schools less likely to partner. This paper describes the University of Kansas (KU) Medical Center Health Science Academy, a university-industry-K-12 partnership designed to increase the number of underrepresented students in health science careers. Using data gathered from 1) meetings with stakeholders, 2) semi-structured interviews with key informants, and 3) focus groups with students, we present the features that made the process and outcomes of this partnership a success. Preliminary results from our pilot year show that students experienced a positive change in their knowledge and intention to pursue a health career.
2016
The spotlight on community colleges has never shown brighter. The nation has made an unprecedented investment in community colleges to simultaneously increase college completion and stimulate economic recovery. Their comprehensive curriculum includes programs of study that enable students to find and retain employment and to continue their postsecondary education through transfer to the baccalaureate degree. With their historic open-access mission, community colleges are seen as an engine of opportunity to support unemployed and underemployed, lowincome, first-generation, and other underserved students to secure employment during and subsequent to the Great Recession.
Career pathways, comprised of stackable credentials and a coherently aligned sequence of programmes of study, are being hailed as an effective means for promoting postsecondary attainment and upward mobility, particularly for low-income and low-skilled adult workers. However, concerns have been raised regarding whether this strategy accomplishes its intention or instead reinforces stratification by channelling under-represented students into short-term programmes with questionable value. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of stackable credentials as they were implemented by a consortium of community colleges in the United States that were part of the Health Professions Pathway (H2P) initiative. The results show that many students who completed short or very short programmes went on to earn longer credentials or maintained their enrollment, but there were noticeable racial disparities in the credentials students earned. Additionally, many of the short-term credentials had limited labour market value. The findings call for a closer analysis of the impact of short-term programmes and stackable credentials on student outcomes.
The Health Sciences and Technology Academy
Academic Medicine, 2014
Health and educational disparities are national issues in the United States. Research has shown that health care professionals from underserved backgrounds are more likely than others to work in underserved areas. The Association of American Medical Colleges' Project 3000 by 2000, to increase the number of underrepresented minorities in medical schools, spurred the West Virginia School of Medicine to start the Health Sciences and Technology Academy (HSTA) in 1994 with the goal of supporting interested underrepresented high school students in pursuing college and health professions careers. The program was based on three beliefs: (1) if underrepresented high school students have potential and the desire to pursue a health professions career and are given the support, they can reach their goals, including obtaining a health professions degree; (2) underserved high school students are able to predict their own success if given the right resources; and (3) community engagement would be key to the program's success. In this perspective, the authors describe the HSTA and its framework and philosophy, including the underlying theories and pedagogy from research in the fields of education and the behavioral/ social sciences. They then offer evidence of the program's success, specifically for African American students, including graduates' high college-going rate and overwhelming intention to choose a health professions major. Finally, the authors describe the benefits of the HSTA's community partnerships, including providing mentors to students, adding legislative language providing tuition waivers and a budgetary line item devoted to the program, and securing program funding from outside sources.
Maternal and Child Health Journal, 2014
The Pathways for Students into Health Professions program is one of four nationally funded programs by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau of the US Department of Health and Human Services to support the training of undergraduate students, particularly from under-represented minority groups to pursue maternal and child health professions. To assess the program's impact on student ratings, knowledge, and interest in maternal and child health professions. A baseline survey on student ratings and knowledge in maternal and child health topics and careers, public health topics, and career development topics was provided to 32 students at the beginning of their first year in the program and approximately 1 year after participation. Half of the students (16 students) in the program from 2009-2011 were from traditionally underrepresented minority groups. After participation, students reported significantly higher ratings of interest in maternal and child health topics and careers and in receiving adequate academic and career guidance. Students also reported significantly higher knowledge of public health, childhood and maternal morbidity and mortality, health care disparities, and life course health development. The program's didactic, experiential, and mentorship activities are changing student ratings and knowledge in a favorable direction toward maternal and child health careers and topics. Undergraduate training programs may be an important mechanism to strengthen the pipeline of a diverse healthcare workforce.