Diversity Scholarships for Plastic Surgery Subinternships: A National Review of US Residency Programs.

Abstract

Residency programs have developed monetary initiatives for students underrepresented in medicine (URiM). Our team sought to provide a centralized resource for URiM students seeking plastic surgery subinternships with funded opportunities. A cross sectional analysis of URiM scholarships offered by US integrated plastic surgery programs (n = 91) between July and September 2023. The study used residency program web domains. Investigators collected information on the monetary value of scholarship, eligibility criteria, and required application documents. Inferential analyses were conducted to investigate whether programs' geographic region or Doximity ranking played a role in likelihood of scholarship existence. The study found that approximately 52.7% (n = 48) of programs have in place monetary support for underrepresented visiting medical students (eg, stipend or reimbursement). The average monetary support was $1670. A univariate test demonstrated that programs with lower rankings in both reputation and research were less likely to have a scholarship available than higher ranking programs (P = 0.002; P = 0.02, respectively). Programs located in the Midwest regions were 3.5 times more likely to have a diversity scholarship available (P = 0.034). In our multivariate analysis, reputation ranking and geographic region remained significant. A Pearson chi square test showed the greatest proportions of scholarships among geographically similar programs to be in the Midwest (70%), however, not statistically significant. This study provides a centralized resource for URiM students interested in completing away rotations. Further investigation into development of these scholarship opportunities would be of much benefit and could guide other programs in the funding their own diversity scholarships.