Introductory Curriculum to Health Disparities for Medical Physics Trainees: A Pilot Experience

PURPOSE: The COVID-19 pandemic brought to the forefront longstanding and pervasive health disparities (HD) in the United States that are driven by underlying structural inequities rooted in racism and intersecting systems of power. It is imperative that medical physics training programs increase their commitment and investment in teaching trainees about HD, especially as the profession becomes more patient-facing. To address this current training gap, we designed an introductory HD curriculum for medical physics graduate students and residents. METHODS: A HD scholar and medical physicist collaborated to design this course. The curriculum consisted of four weekly 1.5-hour synchronous online sessions. Sessions were developed based on transformative learning theory and involved didactic lectures, case studies, large and small group discussions, and reflection exercises. Session topics included social determinants of equity, structural racism, implicit bias, public outreach, and critical reflection. Participants were asked to fill out pre-post surveys containing open- and close-ended questions for each session and the overall course to evaluate the curriculum's impact on participants. Due to the relevance and timeliness of this topic, trainees were encouraged to attend any part of the course as getting exposure to at least some HD training was prioritized over having a consistent course cohort for optimal data collection. RESULTS: Fifteen trainees attended at least part of the course with 8-11 attendees/session. Most participants reported that weekly sessions increased their feelings of competence to explain the relevance of HD to their role in medical physics (4/7), address mistrust, bias, and stereotyping during patient-provider encounters (6/10), engage in critical reflection (7/8), and design public engagement strategies to reduce HD (5/5). Among participants that completed a pre-post survey for the overall course (N=4), 75% reported they will likely/very likely explore issues related to HD in their future education, research, and/or practice. All would recommend this course to colleagues noting satisfaction with topics, atmosphere to discuss sensitive issues, virtual format, activities, and facilitators. DISCUSSION: The course was well-attended despite being outside of program requirements, which showed there was interest in the subject. Topics presented resonated with participants and were viewed as timely and relevant to their practice. The implementation of this course shows that it is possible to successfully incorporate HD instruction into the medical physics curriculum in an introductory manner. More robust and consistent data collection is necessary to fully assess the impact of the course on participants.