SP programs are increasingly approached to support the integration of EDI principles in learning and assessment as part of the curricular mandates of undergraduate and postgraduate health sciences education programs. [1] As we strive for inclusivity and cultural humility in medical education, we need to ensure a psychologically safe working environment for members of diverse and marginalized populations. [2] Among these communities are people of marginalized gender and/or sexual orientations.
To do so, we developed a QI survey, which we distributed among two diverse pools of SPs. The insights gained will contribute to the ongoing efforts to create a more inclusive medical education environment and to increase LGBTQIA+ SP retention and recruitment. [3]
REFERENCES
1) Uzelli Yilmaz, D., Azim, A., Sibbald, M. The role of standardized patient programs in promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion: A narrative review. Academic Medicine 97(3):p 459-468, March 2022. https://doi.org/10.1097/ACM.0000000000004447
2) Lewis, K.L., Bohnert, C.A., Gammon, W.L. et al. The association of standardized patient educators (ASPE) standards of best practice (SOBP). Adv Simul 2, 10 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1186/s41077-017-0043-4
3) Schlegel, C., Bonvin, R., Rethans, J., Van der Vleuten, C. Standardized patients' perspectives on workplace satisfaction and work-related relationships: A multicenter study. Simulation in Healthcare: The Journal of the Society for Simulation in Healthcare 11(4):p 278-285, August 2016. https://doi.org/10.1097/SIH.0000000000000160
An anonymous survey was distributed to gather responses from a pool of all participants in two SP programs. The survey consisted of six Likert scale statements and three open-ended questions, encouraging participants to reflect on their comfort level in portraying cases related to their LGBTQIA+ identity, the potential impact of their visibility on opportunities and workload, and their overall recommendation of the role to other LGBTQIA+ individuals. The survey’s first question asked if the respondent was a member of the LGBTQIA+ community and all affirmative answers allowed the person to continue with the survey.