Women and people of color underrepresent the urology field in the United States. There are hardly many initiatives designed to promote diversity, and much less is known about how well they perform. To better understand the problems and perspectives of underrepresented in medicine (URiM) and female students, researchers analyzed the current state of programs geared to promote their participation in the U.S. Urology Match. First, they surveyed 143 urology residency programs with 11 questions to better understand the field as a whole. They distributed a 12-item survey to students who took part in the U.S. Urology Match between 2017 and 2021 to learn more about the experiences of URiM and female students. Finally, they analyzed Match data from 2019–2021, assessing long-term trends in the match rate. A total of 43% of programs participated in the poll. Unconscious bias training is the most common strategy offered by residency programs (78.7%); however, many others exist. Over time, programs with at least 1 female faculty member had more success attracting female residents (P=0.047). In the same way, the programs that included URiM instructors saw the same pattern. Only 10.5% of students participated in the poll, and 79.2% said they did not know if their school offered any resources specifically for URiM or female students. Females had a higher chance of matching (P=0.002), while URiM students had a lower chance (P<0.001). Significant work is being done by urology programs to increase diversity, but the message is not getting through. The capacity of a program to attract a diverse student body was positively impacted by the demographic makeup of its teaching staff.
Source: auajournals.org/doi/10.1097/UPJ.0000000000000328
