{"title":"Building an ethnically and racially diverse neurology workforce","authors":"Roy H. Hamilton","doi":"10.1038/s41582-024-00941-3","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"As diversity among patient populations continues to grow, racial and ethnic diversity in the neurology workforce is increasingly essential to the delivery of culturally competent care and for enabling inclusive, generalizable clinical research. Unfortunately, diversity in the workforce is an area in which the field of neurology has historically lagged and faces formidable challenges, including an inadequate number of trainees entering the field, bias experienced by trainees and faculty from minoritized racial and ethnic backgrounds, and ‘diversity tax’, the disproportionate burden of service work placed on minoritized people in many professions. Although neurology departments, professional organizations and relevant industry partners have come to realize the importance of diversity to the field and have taken steps to promote careers in neurology for people from minoritized backgrounds, additional steps are needed. Such steps include the continued creation of diversity leadership roles in neurology departments and organizations, the creation of robust pipeline programmes, aggressive recruitment and retention efforts, the elevation of health equity research and engagement with minoritized communities. Overall, what is needed is a shift in culture in which diversity is adopted as a core value in the field. In this Review, Hamilton dissects the importance of racial and ethnic diversity among the neurology workforce for providing inclusive and equitable care to diverse populations. The Review summarizes current barriers to achieving diversity in the field and presents strategic approaches to overcoming these.","PeriodicalId":19085,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Neurology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":28.2000,"publicationDate":"2024-02-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41582-024-00941-3.pdf","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Nature Reviews Neurology","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41582-024-00941-3","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"CLINICAL NEUROLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
As diversity among patient populations continues to grow, racial and ethnic diversity in the neurology workforce is increasingly essential to the delivery of culturally competent care and for enabling inclusive, generalizable clinical research. Unfortunately, diversity in the workforce is an area in which the field of neurology has historically lagged and faces formidable challenges, including an inadequate number of trainees entering the field, bias experienced by trainees and faculty from minoritized racial and ethnic backgrounds, and ‘diversity tax’, the disproportionate burden of service work placed on minoritized people in many professions. Although neurology departments, professional organizations and relevant industry partners have come to realize the importance of diversity to the field and have taken steps to promote careers in neurology for people from minoritized backgrounds, additional steps are needed. Such steps include the continued creation of diversity leadership roles in neurology departments and organizations, the creation of robust pipeline programmes, aggressive recruitment and retention efforts, the elevation of health equity research and engagement with minoritized communities. Overall, what is needed is a shift in culture in which diversity is adopted as a core value in the field. In this Review, Hamilton dissects the importance of racial and ethnic diversity among the neurology workforce for providing inclusive and equitable care to diverse populations. The Review summarizes current barriers to achieving diversity in the field and presents strategic approaches to overcoming these.
期刊介绍:
Nature Reviews Neurology aims to be the premier source of reviews and commentaries for the scientific and clinical communities we serve. We want to provide an unparalleled service to authors, referees, and readers, and we work hard to maximize the usefulness and impact of each article. The journal publishes Research Highlights, Comments, News & Views, Reviews, Consensus Statements, and Perspectives relevant to researchers and clinicians working in the field of neurology. Our broad scope ensures that the work we publish reaches the widest possible audience. Our articles are authoritative, accessible, and enhanced with clearly understandable figures, tables, and other display items. This page gives more detail about the aims and scope of the journal.