Grants We Funded

Abstract

Impact Statement: Exposure and mentorship are significant barriers to achieving diversity and retention of under-represented minorities (URM) in Plastic Surgery. To mitigate these barriers, we propose a novel smartphone-based app to create a virtual platform for URM students/ residents to match with URM mentors thus providing a salient introduction to Plastic Surgery and augmenting mentorship opportunities. We expect this intervention to boost the interest of URM students in Plastic Surgery which in turn will contribute to a more diverse workforce in the future. Since URM patients are more likely to seek care from providers with similar racial and cultural backgrounds, increasing diversity in Plastic Surgery is vital if we are to better tackle the challenge of URM patient healthcare disparities.

Project Summary: Healthcare disparities are prevalent throughout the field of medicine including Plastic Surgery. Under-represented minority (URM) patients are more likely to seek care from providers with similar racial and cultural backgrounds. The paucity of URM plastic surgeons compounds this problem within our field. The problem is further compounded by the paucity of PS mentors and role models for URM medical students and residents. Diversity needs to be addressed from the grass-roots level if we are to overcome this significant problem in our communities. We propose a novel smartphone-based app to virtually connect these URM students with URM mentors to augment their mentorship opportunities. We hypothesize that a smartphone-based mentorship and exposure application can mitigate these barriers and increase the number of URM trainees in the field of Plastic Surgery. The app would allow URM medical school and resident level trainees match with mentors at the level of resident, fellow and faculty. The mentee would choose the level of mentor they prefer. Once inside the app, mentorship functions will include a community board, a mentee/mentor chat function with video capabilities, and virtual community events. Podcasts recorded by faculty on various aspects of career planning and advancement will be downloadable and available to mentees. The app would also allow for sharing of articles, research and volunteer opportunities, and links to useful websites. The projected timeline is 4 months for app development and 8 months for implementation. Measurable variables will be obtained through the application interface in survey form. There will be an introductory survey upon account creation, assessing the interest of the subject in the Plastic Surgery field along with indicators of perceptions of diversity and inclusivity. The same survey will be administered at the middle and end of the 8-month pilot period and a quantitative analysis will be carried out to determine whether a positive relationship exists between utilization of the app and interest in pursuing a career in Plastic Surgery. Should this interface prove to be an effective instrument to improve diverse recruitment and retention, the project will be expanded to include high school students. If popular the app could easily be adapted to other surgical and medical specialties who are also facing similar diversity/ retention issues.

Biography
Second Place Investigator Category - Dr. Clifford Pereira, is a PGY4 General Surgery Resident at Harbor-UCLA, Los Angeles, California. His area of research is Tissue Engineering and Regeneration. He has served on the Research Committee of the American Burn Association and is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Biomaterials Applications.