Mitigating Bias in Virtual Interviews for Applicants Who are Underrepresented in Medicine

Christle Nwora; Derrick B Allred; Monica Verduzco-Gutierrez

doi:10.1016/j.jnma.2020.07.011

Mitigating Bias in Virtual Interviews for Applicants Who are Underrepresented in Medicine

J Natl Med Assoc. 2021 Feb;113(1):74-76. doi: 10.1016/j.jnma.2020.07.011. Epub 2020 Aug 4.

Authors

Christle Nwora¹, Derrick B Allred², Monica Verduzco-Gutierrez³

Affiliations

¹ Medicine and Pediatrics Resident Physician at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA. Electronic address: [email protected].
² Assistant Professor and Residency Program Director, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, UT Health San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA.
³ Professor and Chair, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, UT Health San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA.

Abstract

The COVID 19 pandemic has forced residency programs to consider virtual interview formats that can disproportionately and negatively impact unrepresented in medicine applicants. Diversity is a compelling interest for residency programs. In order to recruit and retain a diverse workforce, programs must recognize the deleterious effect virtual interviews may have on underrepresented in medicine applicants.

Keywords: Applicants; Covid-19; Diversity; Virtual interviews.

MeSH terms

COVID-19 / epidemiology*
Cultural Diversity
Humans
Internship and Residency / organization & administration*
Internship and Residency / standards
Interviews as Topic*
Minority Groups*
Racism / prevention & control*
Racism / psychology
User-Computer Interface