Challenges and opportunities of racial diversity in medical education

Racial and cultural diversity in the physician workforce (in orthopaedics t his includes women) is an essential if the best healthcare for the American people is to be provided. The percentage of minorities to the white popula tion is increasing Set their representation in medical schools and the prac ticing community has not risen at that same pace. Affirmative Action effort s continue to be challenged as lowering standards and depriving better qual ified students admission to medical schools. Admissions committees and orth opaedic residency directors should recognize that grade point averages and test scores may not be the best predictors of how well a physician or surge on cares for patients. How far a person has come and what obstacles they ha ve had to overcome, their demonstrated caring and compassion for people, th eir understanding of diverse cultures and languages may be a far better pre dictor of the quality of care physicians give to their patients. Affirmativ e Action should not be looked on as lowering standards, but using all avail able information in the selection process for medical school and residency training to ensure that the medical profession more closely mirrors the div erse racial and ethnic background of the United States population. How far a person has come and the adversity they have overcome may have far greater impact on making the correct diagnosis and setting out a proper treatment plan that the patient will accept than mastering test taking in the biologi c and physical sciences. Obtaining racial and cultural diversity in the med ical profession should be a national imperative.