Bias and Applicant Selection: Supporting Diversity in Health Professionals Education – February 25, 2021

Longstanding health inequities have been magnified during the COVID-19 pandemic and syndemic.  Increasing diversity, in all areas including but not limited to race, socioeconomic status, gender, sexuality, or physical abilities, of the health workforce has been demonstrated to improve health outcomes and is one component of addressing systemic oppression and other barriers within the healthcare system. This workshop will explore the manifestations of bias, both personal, interpersonal and structural, and how they may influence health professional applicant selection policies, processes and decisions.

The workshop will consist of a dialogue on diversity, equity and inclusion in health professional education and the health workforce followed by a brief review of bias and implicit bias training (IBT).  Workshop participants will then complete an IBT exercise and debrief as a large group.  A discussion about implicit bias and its impact on the applicant selection process and policies will occur, with participants collaboratively identifying opportunities to mitigate bias within their own contexts.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify policies and processes related to applicant selection that may disadvantage applicants
• Identify opportunities to mitigate bias and improve selection processes and policies in own contexts

Facilitators:  Jackie Gruber / Amanda Condon / Sara Goulet / Lisa Monkman

______________________________________________________________________________________________

Credits:

This event was co-developed with the CPD Medicine Program, University of Manitoba and was planned to achieve scientific integrity, objectivity and balance.

This one-credit-per-hour Group Learning program meets the certification criteria of the College of Family Physicians of Canada and has been approved by the CPD Medicine Program, University of Manitoba for up to 1.5 Mainpro+ credits.

This event is an Accredited Group Learning Activity (Section 1) as defined by the Maintenance of Certification Program of The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, and approved by the CPD Medicine Program, University of Manitoba for a maximum of 1.5 hours. Participants should only claim credit for the actual number of hours attended.

The University of Manitoba CPD Medicine Program is fully accredited by the Committee on Accreditation of Continuing Medical Education (CACME).