Family medicine
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Several studies have shown that the percentage of women represented in senior academic positions at US medical schools is lower than the percentage of men in senior positions. Similarly, the percentage of minority faculty members represented in senior academic positions is lower than that of their majority counterparts. This study assessed whether these findings were also present in departments of family medicine and identified any factors related to the institution or department that favored academic success for women and minorities. ⋯ While women and underrepresented minorities are more common to the faculty workforce in family medicine, members of both of these groups are not well represented in senior faculty ranks.
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What role, if any, should race play in clinical presentations? While race is widely used as a way of identifying patients, this practice has been challenged as conceptually flawed, potentially misleading, and possibly prejudicial to the patient. There are, however; important reasons for not excluding information about race. This article includes a set of guidelines for the inclusion of racial data in presentations: (1) Race is a social construct and, if used, should be recorded in the social history, not the opening sentence of the presentation. (2) Patients should self-identity their race or races. (3) Race should not be used as a proxy for genetic variation, social class, or other elements of the social history. (4) Clinicians should be mindful of the potential influence of racism in the clinical encounter.