Assessing the Evolving Definition of Underrepresented Minority and Its Application in Academic Medicine

• DOI: 10.1097/acm.0b013e318276466c
• Publication Date: 2012-11-17T08:14:12Z
• Authors: Kathleen Raquel Page; Laura Castillo-Page; Norma Poll-Hunter; Gwen Garrison; Scott M. Wright
• Keywords: Underrepresented Minority; Demographics

To assess how U.S. academic health centers (AHCs) define the term underrepresented minority (URM) and apply it to their diversity programs, following 2003 revision of Association American Medical Colleges' (AAMC's) definition URM.In 2010, authors developed deployed a cross-sectional survey leaders at 106 AHCs. The included questions about leader institution's program; URM definition; application that leader's perceptions representation institutional contribution various ethnic/racial groups. used descriptive statistics analyze results.Of invited, 89 (84.0%) responded 78 (73.6%) provided working URM. Most programs (40/78; 51%) AAMC URM, which includes racial/ethnic groups are in medicine relative local national demographics. Only 14.1% (11/78) pre-2003 definition, only African Americans, Mexican Native mainland Puerto Ricans. Approximately one-third (23/78; 29.5%) also considered other factors, such as socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, disability, defining Fifty-eight respondents (74.4%) confirmed targeted specific groups.The by AHCs varied widely. Although some classified URMs categories, majority defined more broadly encompass demographic personal characteristics. This shift should prepare eliminate disparities meet needs an increasingly diverse population.