Belonging as a Core Trait Within the Practice of Medicine

Medicine has a long history of excluding certain groups from providing and receiving medical care based on race, ethnicity, gender, and disability status, to name a few.^1‐3 Race-concordant care and gender-concordant care have been associated with improved patient outcomes, and many medical schools are working towards enrolling student bodies to improve the representation of currently under-represented groups in the future physician workforce, including Black, Latinx, LGBTQIA, low-income, and disabled people. Between 1978 and 2019, female-identifying medical students grew from 24 to 50%, yet enrollment of Black men remained stagnant from 3.1 to 2.9% and Hispanic/Latinx medical students under 6%.⁴ Familial wealth remains over-represented among medical students compared with the general population, and between 2017 and 2019, 24% of students came from families in the top 5% of US household incomes.⁵ This lack of diversity can lead to the under-identification of systemic issues that affect under-represented groups, and patients may not be accustomed to receiving care from physicians from under-represented groups. As a counter to these disparities in both providers and patient outcomes, we discuss the role of fostering belonging of all groups as a means to improve patient, learner, and provider commitment to continuous improvement, thereby ultimately optimizing patient care. …