The following is a summary of “Evaluation of dermatologic diagnostic ability on skin of colour in preclinical medical students,” published in the September 2024 issue of Dermatology by Greene et al.
Researchers conducted a retrospective study assessing skin of color (SOC) representation in medical school dermatologic curriculum and board study resources.
They emailed first-year and second-year medical students an 18-question survey about identifying correct diagnoses of dermatologic conditions on either White skin or SOC and their confidence in identifying dermatologic conditions on SOC.
The results showed that 15% of dermatologic condition images in the institutional preclinical curriculum featured patients with SOC. Students performed similarly on both the White image survey (61.73%) and SOC image survey (66.20%) with no statistically significant differences between surveys (P=0.14). Second-year medical students outperformed first-year students overall (P=0.01) and on White skin image survey scores (P=0.02) but not on SOC image survey scores (P=0.09). Most students agreed they felt more comfortable diagnosing dermatologic conditions on White skin and that their school could benefit from increased SOC dermatological resources.
They found that students struggled to diagnose skin conditions on SOC, highlighting the need for curriculum reform to improve cultural competence in dermatology.
Source: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ski2.425
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