Med schools are unsure of affirmative action, but students are sure they want diversity

Increasing diversity in the medical profession is an important goal for pre-med students and medical school admissions officers alike, as shown by the results of two surveys released by Kaplan Test Prep. 

Petros Minasi, senior director of pre-health programs for Kaplan Test Prep, said increasing diverse representation among physicians to better reflect the American population is one of the most significant discussions occurring in both medical education and higher education. 

“I think it just goes back to the fact that it's one of the biggest issues that continues to be in discussion among the medical education community,” Minasi said. “Therefore, it should be, as you look at it (and) you look at some of the data as far as from our own survey, there's kind of this opportunity as far as growing diversity in the medical profession a bunch. It's an important discussion to continue to have.”

In January, 245 pre-med students who had taken a Kaplan MCAT course and sat for the MCAT exam were asked whether they thought it was important for the American medical profession to be more demographically representative of the general patient population.

The results of the survey show of the students surveyed, 80 percent believe it is important to make the medical profession more demographically representative.  

This survey comes at a time when the future of affirmative action and race consideration in medical school applications may be uncertain. 

Last February, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center decided to no longer consider race or national origin as a factor in admissions after entering in a deal with the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights. Their decision concludes a 14-year-long investigation that began after a complaint was filed against Texas Tech’s medical school admissions process. 

Anna Berrier, president of UNC’s coed pre-health honor society Alpha Epsilon Delta, said she is not surprised that so many pre-med students want to see increased diversity in health care professions. 

“Having more diversity in the health care workforce can have a number of benefits on the health care field and our nation's entire patient population, starting with higher quality and more culturally competent care,” Berrier said.

She said she thinks the hierarchical nature of medicine can make that difficult. 

"So I see inclusion as a continued concern moving forward, but I do think that the literature certainly points toward diversity and inclusion as potential to improving quality of care for patients," she said. 

In another survey conducted between August and September of 2018, medical school admissions officers at 67 accredited medical schools were asked to score American medical schools on the topic of diversity. 

Most of the officers gave medical schools, as a whole, an above-average grade related to recruiting and admitting students from varied backgrounds. The results show 18 percent of the officers reported an “A," while 35 percent reported a “B;" 34 percent gave schools a “C,” while 2 percent designated a “D” and 3 percent an “F.” 

Furthermore, the number of Black male students entering medical school has decreased between 1978 and 2015, despite a reported increase in applications from the population, according to a 2015 report from the American Association of Medical Colleges and findings of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, respectively. 

“I think it's important to know that there is a lot of work that is being done,” Minasi said.

university@dailytarheel.com