The Impact of Accessibility to Images of Disease Presentations on Skin of Color (SOC) in Facilitating Content Delivery by Faculty in the First- and Second-year Curriculum

Abstract

Purpose: Inadequate representation of darker skin tones in academic medical literature impedes clinical education and accurate diagnosis. Addressing this disparity is crucial for fostering cultural competence, reducing stigma, and building patient trust

Methods: A University of Nevada, School of Medicine study examined skin of color (SOC) resource utilization among faculty teaching curricular blocks 1-10 between July 2022 and June 2023. Survey before and after each block assesses resource efficacy. Statistical analysis employed Fisher's exact tests, Z tests, and Kruskal- Wallis H tests through SPSS 25.0. The significance level was set to 0.05.

Results: Forty-one participants completed the pre-survey; 53.7% reported SOC visuals in their lectures. The majority of faculty (97.6%) reported a perceived benefit to increasing exposure to disease presentations on SOC. There was a significant difference when comparing the curriculum levels and the perceived gap in skin presentations (p=0.029). Twenty-nine participants responded to the post-survey; 96% reported a perceived value in medical students having access to disease presentations on SOC. Six participants reported using the database. The resource helped 66.7% of those who used it, motivating 100% of them to seek more diverse visuals. The main reason for not using the database, 72.7%, was content relevancy.

Conclusion: The study emphasized the need for more diverse skin pathology images in medical education, prompting the creation of a database. Faculty recognized the disparity between clinical exposure and textbook teaching. Ongoing initiatives, such as the free searchable database, aim to bridge this gap.