Building Diverse and Inclusive Teams in Orthopaedic Surgery: Creating a Culture that Supports Diversity of Background and Thought

Abstract

Orthopaedic surgery has remained one of the least diverse medical specialties for decades. This reality drives our division’s targeted efforts to build more inclusive clinical and research teams. These efforts include promoting a pipeline of diverse talent through early, deliberate recruitment and prioritizing sponsorship as an advocacy tool for underrepresented backgrounds in medicine. Through this process, we have made sure to uphold curiosity and accountability. Here, we seek to describe how we have used these considerations and efforts to work towards making the orthopaedics division we inherited more representative of our patients and communities.Key Concepts•Building and promoting diverse and inclusive teams in orthopaedics requires intentional action from clinicians and leadership.•Leveraging collective curiosity, early support, and sponsorship paves the way for more representative teams.•Creating a pipeline of diverse talent early on provides us with a unique opportunity to influence the future of orthopaedics.•As providers, we have a responsibility to create diverse, inclusive teams to not only strengthen our practice, but to ensure the best care for diverse patients.