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Ottawa 2024
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OSCE and OSTE Stations to Address Racism and Other Biases – Planning and Implementation

Pre Conference Workshop

Presentation Description

Workshop Facilitators: Dr Elizabeth Kachur, Dr Chaoyan Dong and Dr Thanakorn (TJ) Jirasevijinda

Global efforts to promote Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) have highlighted the need for bias-reduction education and assessment at all training levels. This includes clinicians in practice who need these skills in patient care as well as teaching. Biases can target any personal characteristics, from race and gender to sexual orientation and immigration status. Whether they are implicit or explicit, they will affect our interactions with patients, families, learners, and colleagues. Medical professionals and teachers bear the responsibility to maintain awareness and work to mitigate the adverse effects of biases. Formative Objective Structured Clinical Exams/Exercises (OSCEs) have proven to be effective and efficient training tools for addressing complex interpersonal situations. The same is true for Objective Structured Teaching Exercises (OSTEs) that have become a quintessential faculty development tool. Whether they are for trainees or faculty, station encounters can lead to multi-source feedback and debriefings to support best practice strategies. Over the years a variety of OSCE and OSTE stations have been developed to address racism and other biases. They can be categorized as focusing on 1) patient encounters (e.g., sequelae of historic racism); 2) encounters with learners and colleagues (e.g., allyship related to gender discrimination); 3) managing bias and microaggressions when learners themselves are the target (e.g., rejection of care providers because of their personal characteristics). These are difficult stations for everyone involved (including simulated/standardized participants – SPs), but with adequate pre- and de-briefing, they can be a powerful preparation for future real-life scenarios. This Pre-Conference Workshop will address the opportunities and challenges of each station type. The goal is to help participants create and implement bias-related OSCE or OSTE stations that fit their particular program.

Speakers