B. Britton1, N. Nagarajan1, S. Selvarajah1, A. Schupper1, D. Efron1, A. Haider1 1Johns Hopkins University School Of Medicine,Baltimore, MD, USA
Introduction:
Minorities receive poorer quality of care and have worse outcomes than whites across a variety of surgical conditions. Despite these known inequities, it is unknown if efforts are being made by surgeons to rid the field of these disparities. The purpose of this study is to assess what surgeons are doing to address disparities in their practice settings.
Methods:
A computer-generated random sample of US general surgeon Fellows of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) were sent a 21-question online survey aimed at understanding any current efforts they or their organizations may have made towards reducing surgical disparities. Survey questions were previously validated using a series of cognitive interviews and pretests, and further reviewed by external researchers. Responses by surgeons who are affiliated with Academic Medical Centers (AMC) were compared with responses by non-AMC affiliated surgeons using descriptive statistics.
Results:
Of the 536 surgeons contacted, 172 completed the survey (response rate = 32.1%). Surgeon demographics and practice characteristics included 68.6% male, 75.0% white, 64.0% practicing in urban settings, and 79.7% associated with an AMC. Only 19.8% of surgeons reported that their practice or hospital had made an effort to investigate the presence of racial disparities in their practice setting, and only 22.7% reported any initiatives to address racial disparities in their hospital or clinic in the past year. Significantly more AMC-affiliated surgeons reported that their practice setting had made an effort to determine if disparities existed compared with non-AMC affiliated surgeons. Similarly, compared to non-AMC affiliated surgeons, proportionally more AMC surgeons said their place of practice promoted initiatives to reduce disparities (Table).
Conclusion:
Only 1/5th of surgeons responding to this study report initiatives aimed at reducing disparities in surgical care. Surgeons not affiliated with an AMC are making fewer efforts to eliminate disparities than AMC-affiliated surgeons.
