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Abstracts
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Below, you will find a full abstract from the association's official
journal, The Advisor.
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Advising and Supporting
Underrepresented Minority Students
Sustaining Minorities in
Prehealth Advising Programs:
Challenges and Strategies for
Success
Saundra Herndon
Oyewole, PhD
Dramatic
racial and ethnic changes in the demographics of the United States make
increasing the diversity of the health professions workforce a pragmatic as well
as a moral imperative. Yet, despite years of concerted effort, African
Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans continue to be underrepresented in
the health professions (COME, 1998; AADS, 2000; AAMC, 2000a,b). Addressing this
persistent problem requires proactive, systemic approaches at all levels of the
educational process. Whether the metaphor used is the “pipeline” or Bowen and
Bok’s Shape of the River (13 Owen & Bok, 1998), the educational system loses
many minority students during the undergraduate years.
This is especially the case for minority students who enter colleges and
universities expressing an interest in the health professions, regardless of
their intellectual abilities (Bowen & Bok, 1998; CB, 1999; Gandara,
1999). Attention to the
undergraduate years of academic preparation and personal growth is,
therefore, essential to
achieving the goal of a health professions workforce
that reflects the racial and ethnic diversity of this country. The pervasive inequities in education
that leave many underrepresented minority students ill prepared for the rigors
of advanced education have been well documented. These inequities severely limit
the pool of students entering colleges and universities (NCES, 1998; NSF, 2000).
Therefore, it is imperative that under-graduate institutions provide the
programmatic and personal support necessary to ensure the persistence of
minority students to the baccalaureate.
With respect to the health professions, effective undergraduate prehealth
advising programs play a unique and important role in the successful advancement
of under-represented minorities to careers in the health professions.
Understanding
the root causes of the underrepresentation of minorities in the health
professions will facilitate the development of effective strategies for
remedying the problem. For example,
poor academic performance in science and math courses often impedes the
advancement of minority students to health professions schools. Because the factors influencing their
performance in rigorous science and mathematics courses are complex, the
solutions must be equally creative and multifaceted to have an impact. Several
studies on the persistence of minority students to the baccalaureate in all
majors, particularly in science and math, illuminate the complexity.
V22-2-1
Minority Affairs
Committee On the Move
David Verrier, PhD, Saundra
Herndon Oyewole, PhD
Co-Chairs, CMA
The current academic year has
proven to be active and productive for NAAHP’s Committee on Minority
Affairs. We have formed an active and invested Committee of advisors and
liaison members, have secured grant funding for the upcoming national
conference, and are in the process of building some very important liaison
relationships with relevant professional associations. Let us give you a
little background before we share more about what is planned.
What is the
Problem?
The problem of decreasing
numbers of underrepresented minority students (URMs)—African-Americans,
Hispanics and Native Americans—who are recruited and retained in the pursuit of
careers in the health professions continues to be an issue in medical education
in the United States (see AAMC report “Minority Graduates of U.S. Medical
Schools: Trends, 1950-1998”). Medical Schools and the AAMC have worked
toward increasing the size of the URM applicant population and improving the
credentials and retention of these students in the applicant pool. Project
3000 by 2000, while increasing somewhat the numbers of URM students, did not
achieve the goal of 3000 accepted students in the medical school class
matriculating in 2000. Most educators are aware of the inequality in
teaching and schooling for URMs
in this country and how opportunity is often rationed to
minority students. This is a pipeline problem that often begins in
pre-school and extends into the college experience.
Related to this, there
is a compelling need for cultural competence among health professions advisors.
Cultural competency permits individuals to respond with respect and empathy to
people of all cultures, classes, races, religions and ethnic backgrounds in a
manner that recognizes, affirms and values the worth of individuals, families,
and communities. It is generally assumed that health professions advisors
can more sensitively and optimally advise underrepresented students across
cultural lines by examining their knowledge, attitudes, skills, and protocols in
advising.
The Role of Health
Professions Advisors
Health professions advisors in
colleges and universities can play an integral role in the recruitment and
retention of URMs into health careers. Ideally, advisors can provide
access to resources and opportunities for URMs as well as provide encouragement
and support throughout the educational process. They often serve as
gatekeepers, facilitating the candidacy of minority applicants to health
professions schools. It is recognized, however, that health professions
advisors can either positively or negatively impact access,
opportunities, persistence, and the ultimate success of URMs. Advisors,
like all people, are susceptible to attitudes and practices of racial and ethnic
stereotyping, specifically those that unintentionally have a negative impact on
the confidence and persistence of URMs.
V22-2-2
Millenial
Challenges: Insights on Minority
Student Persistence in Health-Related Academics
Carlos
Rodriguez, PhD
Excerpts
from the
Report of the
American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy Ad Hoc Committee on Affirmative
Action and Diversity
The AACP Ad Hoc Committee on
Affirmative Action and Diversity felt the need to establish why it is so
important to pharmacy education that students from all racial and ethnic groups
be well represented in the nation’s colleges and schools of pharmacy. Committee members determined that there
is a unique element to the practice of pharmacy that requires diversity to
achieve the goals of professional pharmacy practice. First and foremost, pharmacists
are health care providers responsible for achieving positive health outcomes for
all patients, regardless of background. Pharmacists are placed in a more diverse
environment today than in the past.
Pharmacists, in contemporary practice, need to possess communication
skills unprecedented in the history of pharmaceutical care. Additionally, pharmacists are
required to work in a closer relationship with patients and other health
professionals than ever in order to achieve the goals of pharmaceutical
care. This is primarily a result of
the rapidly changing demographic composition of the United States. As the new
millennium begins, ethnic minorities comprise an estimated 27% of the U.S.
population. Reliable estimates
indicate that their numbers will increase to 37% in the year 2025 (U.S. Census
Bureau, 1999). The increasing numbers of minority persons will continue to
create social and political changes throughout society. This will occur
particularly in health care, where pressure on financing and delivery systems to
close the gap in health status between minorities and the majority population
can only increase. Moreover,
because minorities are underrepresented in all health professions, including
pharmacy, pressures should intensify to achieve greater representation of
minorities in the health care workforce.
V22-2-3
Promoting
Multiculturalism
Connie
O’Hara
How do we promote
and develop a diverse, culturally competent workforce of physicians to meet the
needs of our changing society? This
issue was explored by 37 health professions advisors and numerous administrators from eight different medical schools at the sixth annual joint
meeting of the Philadelphia LAN on January 4, 2002. The event, hosted by Drs. Carol
Terregino and David Seiden at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School’s Camden
campus, featured a keynote presentation, a panel of medical school
administrators, and small group discussions on the issue of diversity.
V22-2-8
The SNMA: Mentoring the Health Professionals of
Tomorrow
Aderonke O.
Omotade
V22-2-5
MMEP Student Perceptions of the Pathway to Medical Education
Pamela G. Ferry, MHS, William A. Thompson, PhD
Purpose: To gain a greater understanding of the
perceptions of underrepresented minority premedical students regarding
premedical preparation and the medical school admissions process.
Method: A 36-item questionnaire was administered
to 116 undergraduate premedical students attending a summer enrichment
program. Responses for most
questions were scored on a Likert-type scale.
Results: Respondents reported high utilization of
premedical advising services and rated these services as helpful. However, the majority of respondents
overestimated both the competition for medical school admissions and the
representation of minority students in the medical school population.
Respondents had a realistic perception of the importance of quantitative factors
(grades, MCAT scores) and more qualitative/humantarian factors (communication
skills, community service) in medical school admissions and tended to rate
themselves as above average as medical school candidates based on these factors.
Areas in which respondents reported lower levels of preparation include research
experience and medically-related reading.
Conclusion: The findings suggest several avenues in
which premedical advisors and/or enrichment program could assist minority
premedical students in preparing for medical school admissions. These include
providing a list of information resources, recommended reading lists, and
up-to-date data on admissions trends, especially for minority applicants.
Why Xavier
University Remains No. 1
Pearl Stewart
Promoting Multiculturalism
Connie O’Hara and
John Friede, PhD
Insider
Tips: Navigating the Medical School
Admissions Process
Lolita
Wood-Hill , NYLAN (New York Local Area
Network) Coordinator
NYLAN and AMS
held a one-day seminar at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. In putting
together this conference we looked to provide undergraduate premedical advisors
with information regarding minority admission to health professions
schools. Although it turned out to be a very full day, its success is
evidenced by other LAN's looking to emulate this format as well as by the
feedback we received from participants.
V22-2-6
Evaluation
of an Early Medical School Selection Program for Underrepresented Minority
Students
Kenneth C.
Edelin, MD, and Augustine Ugbolue, PhD
Purpose: To
evaluate the academic performance in the first two years of medical school of
underrepresented minority students (URMS) who participated in an early
identification and admission program.
Method: The study involved 39
early-selection URM students who entered one medical school from 1992 through
1999. Successful completion of the first two years of medical school and passing
the United States Medical Licensure Examination (USMLE) Step 1 were correlated
with Scholastic Aptitude Test I (SAT I) scores and Medical College Admission
Test (MCAT) scores. The students were required to maintain an overall
grade-point average of at least 3.0 on a 4.0 scale to remain in the program.
Results: Students who had combined scores of at
least 900 on the SAT I and total scores of at least 18 on the three
multiple-choice sections of the MCAT had more success completing the first two
years of medical school and passed USMLE Step 1 with greater frequency than did
those students who scored at lower levels on these tests.
Conclusion: An
early-selection program for URM students can identify early in their academic
careers students who can complete the first two years of medical school and pass
the USMLE Step 1.
V: Please contact NAAHP.
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