Even without formal curricula, medical residents report health disparities training

Few U.S. medical residency training programs have formal curricula for health disparities, but medical residents report having bedside training treating those from marginalized groups. More than 220 program directors were surveyed in 2015, and only 40% said their program curricula included discussion of health disparities. At the same time, around 70% of the nearly 19,000 residents who were surveyed reported caring for patients from marginalized groups, with nearly 80% of this group reporting "good" or "excellent" training. And the more patients from underserved backgrounds residents said they treated, the likelier they were to report health disparities training. The study's findings show that bedside training ought to be supplemented with formal curricula, the authors say.