The Plight of the Minority Resident Physician— Similar Challenges in a Different World

Abstract

In the article “Minority Resident Physicians’ Views on the Role of Race/Ethnicity in Their Training Experiences in the Workplace,” Osseo-Asare et al1 report a qualitative approach to teasing out the plight of underrepresented in medicine minority (URMM) resident physicians in their training programs. Underrepresented minorities in medicine include black, Latino, and Native American individuals. Their study involved mostly black residents who were surveyed by semistructured interview at the 2017 Annual Medical Education Conference, sponsored by the Student National Medical Association. Comments from participants in the study transcend the academic health center environment, ranging from concerns like being thought to “play the race card,” their minority culture being viewed as unprofessional, and, as black resident physicians, being asked to fix diversity and culture problems that were thought to be minority problems. Themes included having to deal with racism and discrimination on a daily basis, managing the influence of diversity pressures on their professional and personal lives, and the effect of discrimination on self-identify.