Objective Test Scores Throughout Orthopedic Surgery Residency Suggest Disparities in Training Experience.
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2021-09
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Diversifying clinical residencies, particularly in fields that are historically dominated by majority male (M/M) cohorts, is critical to improve both the training experiences of residents and the overall physician workforce. Orthopedic surgery in particular has low numbers of females and under-represented minorities (F/URM) at all levels of training and practice. Despite efforts to increase its diversity, this field has become more homogeneous in recent years. To highlight potential barriers and disparate training environments that may contribute to this dynamic, we present 25 years' worth of institutional data on standardized exam performance throughout residency. We report that despite starting residency with standardized exam scores that were comparable to their M/M peers, F/URM orthopedic surgery residents performed progressively worse on Orthopaedic In-service Training Exams throughout residency and had lower first pass rates on the American Board of Orthopedic Surgery Part 1. Given these findings, we propose that disparate performance on standardized test scores throughout residency could identify trainees that may have different experiences that negatively impact their exam performance. Shedding light on these underlying disparities provides opportunities to find meaningful and sustained ways to develop a culture of diversity and inclusion. It may also allow for other programs to identify similar patterns within their training programs. Overall, we propose monitoring test performance on standardized exams throughout orthopedic surgery residency to identify potential disparities in training experience; further, we acknowledge that interventions to mitigate these disparities require a broad, systems wide approach and a firm institutional commitment to reducing bias and working toward sustainable change.
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Foster, Norah, Meghan Price, Janet Prvu Bettger, C Rory Goodwin and Melissa Erickson (2021). Objective Test Scores Throughout Orthopedic Surgery Residency Suggest Disparities in Training Experience. Journal of surgical education, 78(5). pp. 1400–1405. 10.1016/j.jsurg.2021.01.003 Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/31375.
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Janet Prvu Bettger
Dr. Bettger’s research is dedicated to establishing real world evidence aimed to improve health care quality and policies that reduce the burden of disease and disability. As a health services researcher and implementation scientist, her research extends from observational studies to randomized and pragmatic trials. She was the Founding Director of Duke Roybal Center for Translational Research in the Behavioral and Social Sciences of Aging and the Founding Director of Undergraduate Initiatives for the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy. She has examined implementation of several integrated care models to improve the transition home from the hospital (VERITAS with virtual exercise therapy after knee replacement, COMPASS for stroke, RECOVER for stroke in rural China, and coordinated care for trauma patients in Tanzania). She also studies implementation of community-based models of care that can prevent functional decline. These include the CTSA-funded IMPAC RCT of integrating physical therapists into primary care as first line providers to address musculoskeletal pain, the VA-funded Gerofit program of structured and progressive in-person and virtual group exercise for older Veterans, MRC-funded SINEMA RCT of a village-based model supporting stroke recovery in China, and a NIDCD study comparing three primary care protocols for older adult hearing healthcare.
In addition to the evidence translation studies in China (RECOVER and SINEMA) and Tanzania, she has partnered with experts in Singapore on stroke systems research, and worked on large cluster randomized trials to improve evidence-based care in Brazil, Peru, Argentina (BRIDGE-Stroke) and China (CNSR and Golden Bridge). To address health locally, she was the faculty sponsor to launch Exercise is Medicine at Duke and Help Desk, a student volunteer community resource navigator model addressing social determinants of health.
Dr. Bettger received her BA from the University of Western Ontario, Canada and her MS from the University of Wisconsin–LaCrosse where she studied community reintegration for stroke and brain-injured patients transitioning from hospital to home. Her doctoral training in Rehabilitation Sciences, completed at Boston University, concluded with an investigation of patterns of functional recovery and factors affecting outcomes in patients transitioning home following acute rehabilitation. While working on her doctorate, she also worked in state government as the director of the Paul Coverdell National Acute Stroke Registry. Dr. Bettger completed post-doctoral training at the University of Pennsylvania with a NIH NRSA research fellowship in neurorehabilitation, a research fellowship at the NewCourtland Center for Transitions and Health, and a Switzer Fellowship funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research to study the role of the environment on functional outcomes. She completed additional research training at Duke as a mentored scholar in comparative effectiveness research funded by AHRQ. As of July 2022, she is an Adjunct Associate Professor for Duke's Department of Orthopaedics and has transitioned out of her role as Co-Director of the Duke Clinical and Translational Institute (CTSA) Pilots Accelerator Core working with NCCU. She is affiliate faculty with Duke's Science and Society, Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy, the Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI) and Duke Global Health Institute (DGHI), is a Senior Fellow of the Duke Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development, and is a Fellow of the American Heart Association.
Courtney Rory Goodwin
Associate Professor of Neurosurgery, Radiation Oncology, Orthopedic Surgery.
Director of Spine Oncology,
Associate Residency Program Director
Third Year Study Program Director Neurosciences, Duke University School of Medicine
Director of Spine Metastasis, Duke Center for Brain and Spine Metastasis, Department of Neurosurgery
Duke Cancer Institute, Duke University Medical Center
Melissa Maria Erickson
I am a spine surgeon who provides surgical management of cervical, thoracic and lumbar spine conditions, including cervical myelopathy, herniated discs, deformity, stenosis, tumor and trauma. I provide both minimally invasive procedures as well as traditional surgical techniques.
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