A preliminary analysis of healthcare disparities curriculum at WPI

Pollock, Emily; Hankaoui, Sammy A.; Wofford, Blake D.; O'Connor, Delainey C.; Cordner, Lily A.

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A preliminary analysis of healthcare disparities curriculum at WPI

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Introduction: Undergraduate bioengineering and biomedical sciences curriculum is currently lacking the inclusion of healthcare disparities education. This has recently been highlighted by current social injustice movements, as well as the American Medical Association declaring race as an urgent public health threat, as unequal treatment in the healthcare field is becoming even more prominent. It is imperative to educate future healthcare professionals as early in their career as possible in order to mitigate these disparities in their later work. The purpose of this study was to look at the degree and manner in which students have intersected with healthcare disparities. Specifically, the study looks at where they get their information from, the extent to which they learned it, and their perceived importance of healthcare disparities as it relates to their major. Another focal point of the study was to examine the effectiveness of an educational module administered to students taking courses in biomedical sciences, bioengineering, and adjacent disciplines. Methods: The group designed a presentation that introduces the fundamentals of healthcare disparities, examples, and the ethical theories associated with the healthcare disparities. After presenting the guest lecture, the students were given a case study which highlighted a specific bias, tailored to the students' field of study, via anecdotal evidence and analysis. In doing so the students were essentially “role playing” in a healthcare disparity which elicits the reflective learning techniques recommended by teaching professionals. The biases were not explicitly stated in the case study which provoked the students to relate the case study’s scenario to the learned topics in the previously lectured material. Following the case study, smaller groups of 3-6 students were given discussion questions and intermittently moderated. These prompts asked students to identify where they see healthcare disparities and to develop potential solutions to the identified disparity in the case study. The discussion section was an opportunity for students to review healthcare disparities through a more complete scope of the topic and its application. Results: The data showed that BME students find healthcare disparities a more important topic in their field than their non-BME counterparts. The self reported data from n=461 students found that 79.9% of BME students found healthcare disparities “very important” in their field of study, while only 49.9% of non-BME students reported the same. These results were statistically significant. The data also showed that 72.1% of all n=461 students had not received any form of healthcare disparities education at all, while 73.4% of n=144 BME students reported the same. The data was analyzed concerning the relationship between students’ perception of importance and their exposure to healthcare disparities education. It was found that 26.3% of n=144 BME students reported receiving any coverage on healthcare disparities in courses, despite 79.9% of that population having reported healthcare disparities being “very important”. The data also showed that there are insignificant increases in students’ awareness and knowledge of healthcare disparities across class years. Using a paired t-test to compare responses from the Class of 2024 and Class of 2021, p=0.91, showing there is no statistical significance correlated to class year. Conclusion: Our findings supported the hypothesis that undergraduate students in biomedical engineering are not educated enough on healthcare disparities at WPI. Due to ABET section 1.3 criterion 2 and 4, “an ability to recognize ethical and professional responsibilities in engineering situations” and the importance of addressing healthcare disparities in undergraduate education, this deficit in biomedical engineering curriculum must be addressed.

This report represents the work of one or more WPI undergraduate students submitted to the faculty as evidence of completion of a degree requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its website without editorial or peer review.

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