Assessing Racial Consciousness in Anatomy Educators

Abstract

Anatomy teaching faculty have the ability to affect how race is discussed and portrayed in the curriculum, such as choosing which images to use, which textbooks to assign and reference, and whether to include race or other social determinants of health in discussions of clinical correlates of anatomy. Inclusive learning materials can impact medical students’ self‐perception and either reinforce or dismantle implicit and explicit biases that may be held toward future patients and colleagues. Using a mixed methods approach, we surveyed faculty teaching anatomy at a variety of levels in order to assess the materials, resources, and concepts that are currently taught in anatomy classrooms, and the barriers that anatomy faculty face in creating diverse and inclusive teaching materials.Survey results show that of 162 total respondents, only 17.86% of anatomy faculty are satisfied with the diversity represented in their anatomy textbook, while 50.89% are not satisfied. Overall, it appears that while race is at least sometimes discussed in the majority of curricula surveyed here (39.69 % “sometimes”, 17.46% “often,” 3.05% “always”), it appears to be less frequently discussed in the anatomy classroom (37.40% “sometimes,” 6.11% “often,” 0.0% “always”).Qualitative data collected from survey participants suggests that some anatomy faculty (18) feel that race is outside of the scope of discussion in an anatomy course. However, 17 educators felt that discussion of race is within scope for an anatomy course. Interestingly, describing race as a social construct was used both to justify its exclusion in the anatomy curriculum (2 respondents) as well as its inclusion (4 respondents).Our preliminary data that most educators desire to be more inclusive in their instructional materials, however, they feel restricted by the lack of diverse resources at their disposable. We hope the insights from this study will help us understand information gaps and create a more racially conscious anatomy curriculum.