A Case-Based Approach to Racial Health Disparities in Infertility Diagnosis and Management-From Reproductive Life Planning to Treating Infertility.

Abstract

Background: Increasing attention has been paid to medical racial health disparities, though limited attention has been paid to mitigating these disparities in access to fertility care and reproductive life planning. Workshops previously have been shown to increase physician awareness and practice improvements.

Objective: We sought to develop an education tool to provide structured, case-based learning for physicians to reflect on bias in fertility assessment and treatment and discuss changes in practice.

Methods: Authors created reproductive life planning and infertility management cases and arranged them for review informed by reproductive justice and fertility scholars. The resulting workshop was piloted to a group of 10 residents in person at a single academic institution. The cases were presented in a large group style and participants discussed cases in pairs. At the workshop's conclusion, participants were prompted to provide feedback via a survey.

Results: One hundred percent (10/10) of respondents reported that the workshop helped them think about bias in medicine. Ninety percent (9/10) of respondents reported that after the workshop, they will think differently about how they approach marginalized patients in their practice. Eighty percent (8/10) of participants reported that the workshop gave them tools on how to approach marginalized patients in their practice.

Discussion/conclusions: Participants reported overwhelmingly that they found the workshop valuable and that it assisted them in making goals to change their practice to improve fertility care for racially marginalized patients.