The Impact of the 2008 Council of Emergency Residency Directors (CORD) Panel on Emergency Medicine Resident Diversity.
BACKGROUND
In 2008, the Council of Emergency Medicine Residency Directors (CORD) developed a set of recruitment strategies designed to increase the number of under-represented minorities (URMs) in Emergency Medicine (EM) residency.


OBJECTIVE
We conducted a survey of United States (US) EM residency program directors to: describe the racial and ethnic composition of residents; ascertain whether each program had instituted CORD recruitment strategies; and identify program characteristics associated with recruitment of a high proportion of URM residents.


METHODS
The survey was distributed to accredited, nonmilitary US EM residency programs during 2013. Programs were dichotomized into high URM and low URM by the percentage of URM residents. High- and low-URM programs were compared with respect to size, geography, percentage of URM faculty, importance assigned to common applicant selection criteria, and CORD recruitment strategies utilized. Odds ratios and 95% confidence limits were calculated.


RESULTS
Of 154 residency programs, 72% responded. The median percentage of URM residents per program was 9%. Only 46% of EM programs engaged in at least two recruitment strategies. Factors associated with higher resident diversity (high-URM) included: diversity of EM faculty (high-URM) (odds ratio [OR] 5.3; 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.1-13.0); applicant's URM status considered important (OR 4.9; 95% CI 2.1-11.9); engaging in pipeline activities (OR 4.8; 95% CI 1.4-15.7); and extracurricular activities considered important (OR 2.6; 95% CI 1.2-6.0).


CONCLUSIONS
Less than half of EM programs have instituted two or more recruitment strategies from the 2008 CORD diversity panel. EM faculty diversity, active pipeline programs, and attention paid to applicants' URM status and extracurricular activities were associated with higher resident diversity.
Department of Emergency Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut.
Dowin
D
Boatright
Department of Emergency Medicine, Denver Health Medical Center, Denver, Colorado.
Java
J
Tunson
Department of Emergency Medicine, Denver Health Medical Center, Denver, Colorado.
Emily
E
Caruso
Department of Emergency Medicine, Denver Health Medical Center, Denver, Colorado.
Christy
C
Angerhofer
Department of Emergency Medicine, Denver Health Medical Center, Denver, Colorado.
Brooke
B
Baker
Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, Colorado.
Renee
R
King
Department of Emergency Medicine, Denver Health Medical Center, Denver, Colorado.
Katherine
K
Bakes
Department of Emergency Medicine, Denver Health Medical Center, Denver, Colorado.
Stephanie
S
Oberfoell
Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, Colorado.
Steven
S
Lowenstein
Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, Colorado.
Jeffrey
J
Druck
D018864:Cultural Diversity; D004502:Education, Medical, Continuing / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004635:Emergency Medicine / Q000193:education* / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010820:Physicians / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States; D000078329:Workforce
cross-sectional studies; cultural diversity; internship and residency; minority groups; questionnaires