Background Social determinants of health play a critical role in visual health outcomes. Yet, there exists no structured curriculum for ophthalmology residents to identify and address health disparities relevant to eye care or no a standard assessment of health disparities education within ophthalmology residency programs. This study aims to characterize current health disparity curricula in ophthalmology residency programs in the United States, determine resident confidence in addressing health disparities in the clinical setting, and identify perceived barriers and needs of program directors (PDs) and residents in this area.

Design This was a cross-sectional survey study.

Methods A closed-ended questionnaire with comments was distributed to the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-accredited ophthalmology residency PDs and residents in April 2021 and May 2022. The questionnaire solicited characteristics of any existing health disparity curricula, PD and resident perceptions of these curricula, and residents' experience with and confidence in addressing health disparities in the delivery of patient care.

Results In total, 29 PDs and 96 residents responded. Sixty-six percent of PDs stated their program had a formal curriculum compared to fifty-three percent of residents. Forty-one percent of PDs and forty-one percent of residents stated their program places residents in underserved care settings for more than 50% of their training. Most residents (72%) were confident in recognizing health disparities. Sixty-six percent were confident in managing care in the face of disparities and fifty-nine percent felt they know how to utilize available resources. Residents were most concerned with the lack of access to resources to help patients. Forty-five percent of PDs felt the amount of time dedicated to health disparities education was adequate. Forty-nine percent of residents reported they felt the amount of training they received on health disparities to be adequate. The top barrier to curriculum development identified by PDs was the availability of trained faculty to teach. Time in the curriculum was a major barrier identified by residents.

Conclusions Roughly half of ophthalmology residency programs who responded had a health disparity curriculum; however, both PDs and residents felt inadequate time is dedicated to such education. National guidance on structured health disparity curricula for ophthalmology residents may be warranted as a next step.

This work was supported in part by a Research to Prevent Blindness unrestricted grant to the University of California San Francisco, Department of Ophthalmology.

*Nicole Carvajal and Justin Lopez contributed equally to this manuscript and are co-first authors.

Received: 22 April 2023

Accepted: 28 June 2023

Article published online:
07 August 2023

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