The Right Thing to Do, The Smart Thing to Do Enhancing Diversity in the Health Professions -- Summary of the Symposium on Diversity in Health Professions in Honor of Herbert W. Nickens, M.D. (2001) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
Trends in Underrepresented Minority Participation in Health Professions Schools
Trends in Underrepresented Minority Participation in Health Professions Schools
Pages 185-207
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 185... ...
Much less is known about national trends in the past decade in URM enrollment in health professions schools other than allopathic medicine. In addition, prior published analyses of URM trends in allopathic medical schools have not fully scrutinized the interplay between application and admission trends that have resulted in the decline in URM matriculants.
|
From page 186... ...
RESULTS URM trends in matriculants and enrollees over the past decade differ across the health professions (Figure 1~. Nursing, public health, and pharmacy have seen a modest but steady rise in the proportion of matriculants and enrollees who are URM:s.
|
From page 187... ...
Through much of the l990s, allopathic medicine had a higher proportion of URM students than all health professions other than public health, although nursing has recently surpassed allopathic medicine in its proportion of students who are URMs. Trends in URM applicants, acceptances, and matriculants track together for allopathic medical schools (Figure A-1~.
|
From page 188... ...
45000 40000 35000 30000 20000 1 5000 1 0000 O 1 _ _ URN | Non-URM r . I I I I I 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 l FIGURE A-2 Allopathic Medical School Applicants.
|
From page 189... ...
However, as Figure A-1 indicates, allopathic medical schools maintained a fairly constant number of URM matriculants in the late 1980s despite the decrease in the number of URM applicants. This contrasts with the case in the late l990s when the decrease in URM applicants was associated with a commensurate decrease in URM acceptances and matriculants.
|
From page 190... ...
By 1999, acceptance rates for URM applicants had once again fallen below those for non-URMS. As Figure A-4 shows, the net result of these patterns of applicant numbers and acceptance rates is a growth in the proportion of URMs matriculating in allopathic medical schools in the early l990s, followed by a decrease in the late l990s.
|
From page 191... ...
To reach population parity, California would need 40% of matriculants to be URMs, and Texas 70% 60% 50% 10% U.S. overall ~ ~ CA - - - - TX is, _ _ _ 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 FIGURE A-5 Percent of URM Applicants Accepted to Allopathic Medical Schools: United States vs.
|
From page 192... ...
In 1995, California and Texas were educating 18.0% of all URMs matriculating in allopathic medical schools in the United States. By 2000, the figure was 15.5% (See Figure Am.
|
From page 193... ...
One of the most striking health professional school trends in the 1990s was the surge in the total number of applicants to osteopathic medical schools. While the number of applicants to allopathic medical schools approximately doubled in the early 1990s, the number of overall applicants to osteopathic medical schools grew by nearly 350°/O.
|
From page 194... ...
If a more substantial number of accepted students opt not to matriculate in osteopathic medical schools (perhaps because they also applied to allopathic schools and matriculated in an allopathic school) , then more caution needs to be exercised in interpreting trends in matriculation rates as indicative of policies affecting admissions decisions or of related factors influencing acceptance rates.
|
From page 195... ...
The overall number of Matriculants to osteopathic medical schools increased by almost 50% between 1989 and 1998 (Figure 0-3~. NonURM Matriculants increased by 50%, from 1,682 to 2,525.
|
From page 196... ...
rates rebounded for non-URMs but not for URMs. In both types of medical schools, URM applicants did not experience the same "bounce" as non-URM applicants from the decreasing overall student demand for medical school slots in the late l990s.
|
From page 197... ...
The matriculation rate for URMs went from 69.3% to 42.4%, while the non-URM rate fell from 75.3°/O to 46.7% between 1989 and 1999. Because the number of non-URM applicants increased by a much larger degree than the number of URM applicants, equivalent matriculation rates among URMs and non-URMs led to fewer URM matriculants and more non-URM matriculants.
|
From page 198... ...
As in the rest of the United States, California and Texas also saw the proportion of URMs matriculating decrease through the l990s (Figure D-5~. In the rest of the United States, (excluding Texas and California)
|
From page 199... ...
California's population consists of 40% URMs,iii meaning that the percent of URM dental students in California in 1999 was 10 times below population parity. Trends in California and Texas may not differ very much from trends in the rest of the United States for dentistry because admissions decisions may not have been the key limiting factor for URM matriculation into dental schools in the l990s.
|
From page 200... ...
Of all the clinically oriented health professions studied, nursing has exhibited the most sustained increase in the proportion of URM students and now has the highest proportion of URM enrollees of any health profession, other than public health. Because national annual data on diploma and associate degree nursing prograrns were not available for all the years studied, we limited our analysis to baccalaureate nursing programs.
|
From page 201... ...
2% - . 0% 1 991 1 992 1 993 1 994 1995 1997 1998 1999 FIGURE N-2 URMs as Percentage of Nursing Enrollment in Baccalaureate Nursing Programs.
|
From page 202... ...
Once applicants to a California community college meet minimum criteria, positions are allocated either by waiting lists or by a "lottery system." This admissions process was not affected by Proposition 209. PUBLIC HEALTH Public health programs have the highest proportion of URM applicants and enrollees of the health professions.
|
From page 203... ...
TRENDSIN UNDERREPRESENTED MINORITY PARTICIPATION RAYS 20% 19% 18% 17% 16% 15% 21% 19% 15% 13% 11% 203 \/ l 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 FIGURE PH-1 URMs as Percent of Public Health Applicants. 9% 7% 5% 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 199B 1999 FIGURE PH-2 URMs as Percent of Schools of Public Health Students.
|
From page 204... ...
Enrollment trends have also held fairly steady through the last five years, with URMs representing approximately 6% of veterinary students (See Figure V-2~. Veterinary medicine has one of the lowest overall acceptance rates of any health profession.
|
From page 205... ...
TRENDS IN UNDERREPRESENTED MINORITY PARTICIPATION 205 Solo 8% 5% 4% 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 FIGURE V-2 URMs as Percent of Enrolled Veterinary Students. 38% 36% q4% ~ 32% 30% ~ 28% 26% 24% 22% din / 20% _~ MA 1995 1906 1997 19OB 1999 FIGURE V-3 Veterinary School Acceptance Rates.
|
From page 206... ...
In allopathic medicine, osteopathic medicine, dentistry, and veterinary medicine, there is an emerging gap in acceptance and matriculation rates for URM applicants compared with non-URMs, with URM rates falling behind. There is circumstantial evidence that recent legislative and judicial decisions limiting the consideration of race and ethnicity in health professions schools' admissions decisions may be contributing to diverging trends for URM and non-URM acceptance rates, at least for allopathic medicine.
|
From page 207... ...
Improved analysis of the dynamics of applicant numbers, acceptance rates, matriculation rates, and attrition rates would allow for more informed policymaking to tailor interventions to the unique dynamics of each profession. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors thank the following organizations and individuals for supplying the data for the analyses in this paper: David Bristol, College of Veterinary Medicine at North Carolina State University; Lois Colburn and Kuhua Zhang, Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC)
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.