Barriers to Black Medical Students and Residents Pursuing and Completing Surgical Residency in Canada: A Qualitative Analysis.

Background: The limited available data suggest that the Canadian surgical workforce does not reflect the racial diversity of the patient population it serves, despite the well-established benefits of patient-provider race concordance. There have been no studies to date that characterize the systemic and individual challenges faced by Black medical students in matching to and successfully finishing training in a surgical specialty within a Canadian context that can explain this underrepresentation.

Study Design: Using critical qualitative inquiry and purposive sampling to ensure sex, geographical, and student or trainee year heterogeneity, we recruited self-identifying Black medical students and surgical residents across Canada.