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The following is a summary of “Skin of colour dermatology education in US primary care residency programmes: a nationwide cross-sectional survey of programme directors,” published in the January 2025 issue of Dermatology by LaMonica et al.
Despite advancements in dermatology training, physicians-in-training across specialties, including primary care, report inadequate education in the skin of color (SOC) dermatology, highlighting a critical gap in medical education.
Researchers conducted a retrospective study to characterize the didactic and clinical training opportunities in the SOC dermatology available to primary care residents, aiming to inform future curriculum development.
They distributed a 16-question survey via email between October 2022 and February 2023 to U.S. primary care residency programs listed in the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) database.
The results showed 49 of 1,224 responding programs (4.0%) participated, with 29 offering SOC didactic training, mainly in general dermatology lectures (59.2%) and board review sessions (26.5%). More than half (71.4%) provided SOC clinical training, primarily through dermatology rotations (67.3%) and addressing skin-related issues in primary care (59.2%). Programs planning to incorporate SOC education (40.8%) were more likely to have current SOC didactic (P = 0.01) and clinical training opportunities (P = 0.02). Directors favored integrating SOC into dermatology lectures (63.3%) and cited barriers like finding an expert (63.3%) and allocating lecture time (20.4%).
Investigators concluded that some primary care programs offered SOC dermatology training, with the inclusion of such opportunities depending on the program directors’ willingness, highlighting the potential for dermatologists to educate primary care residents.
Source: academic.oup.com/skinhd/advance-article/doi/10.1093/skinhd/vzae001/7974753
