Repaving the Pathway to Prevent the Loss of Students With Marginalized Identities—Medical Student Attrition

In this issue of JAMA Internal Medicine, Nguyen et al demonstrate differences in attrition from medical school among medical students from varying racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds. These authors considered being underrepresented in medicine (URiM) as individuals who identified as Hispanic only, non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaska Native/Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander only, or non-Hispanic Black/African American only. As an innovative contribution to the literature, they looked beyond race and ethnicity and examined socioeconomic status, specifically past and present household income as well as underresourced neighborhood status. They adjusted for Medical College Admissions Test results and found that gender, race, and ethnicity remained associated with attrition rates (overall attrition rate, 2.8%; identified as URiM, 5.6%; identified as low income, 4.2%; and from underresourced neighborhoods, 4.6%). Furthermore, they found that those with 1 or more marginalized identities were more than 40% more likely to experience attrition during medical school. It is important to emphasize that participants who identified as non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaska Native/Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander only demonstrated a 10.3% attrition rate or were 300% more likely not to graduate from their doctor of medicine program. These findings add to the growing body of knowledge on how multiple marginalized identities intersect to affect medical school graduation.

Read More Here: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2794203?resultClick=1. Both the commentary and the article mentioned within it are attached to this post.