Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges
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Structural racism is pervasive in U. S. society, and academic medicine is not immune to the effects of this disease. The social determinants of health have been implicated as the main drivers of health disparities and inequities in society, and racism has been well established as a social determinant of health. ⋯ This work will not be easy, and there will be great resistance to the type of change that is needed. It is time to ask whether the leaders of academic institutions have the will to act and to continue to push forward in the face of opposition. The author is skeptical-because of the scope of the work that needs to be done and because it feels as if society has been here many times before-and, yet, remains optimistic.
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Racism and bias are fundamental causes of health inequities, and they negatively affect the climate of academic medical institutions across the United States. ⋯ Next steps include assessing the scalability of the VR module; determining effective complementary engagements; and measuring the module's longitudinal effects on racial empathy, discrimination, and institutional climate. As VR becomes more common in medical education, developing VR modules to address other forms of discrimination (e.g., sexism, homophobia) could also benefit the institutional climates of medical schools and health systems as academic medicine continues to build toward health equity.