Teaching gap in skin tones considerations

<p>Health assessment teaching and practices remain Eurocentric and are not inclusive of people with various skin tones.</p> <p>This Showcase presentation will progress discussion of the initiative introduced in our 2023 Lightning presentation. Our aims were to:</p> <p>Embed examples of biological differences in physical assessment that are inclusive of different skin tones in undergraduate nursing and paramedicine module content and clinical assessment</p> <p>Identify the proportion of students who correctly identify a skin tone consideration within their Objective Structured Clinical Exam (OSCE)/Portfolio assessment</p> <p>Understand student perspectives of the inclusion of skin tone considerations in physical assessment.</p> <p>Learning content was adjusted within nursing and paramedicine units to include a five-minute video embedded in MyLO module content and pictures illustrating differences in skin diseases, perfusion, and pupillary assessment. OSCE/Portfolio assessments included one additional (non-weighted) skin tone consideration criteria. Students were invited to participate in a two-item, anonymous post-unit survey specific to the embedding of skin tones content.</p> <p>The skin tones module was viewed by 23% of all students. A skin tone consideration was correctly identified by one fifth of students who completed their OSCE/Portfolio assessment. The mean satisfaction score (1 not satisfied at all, 6, very satisfied) regarding the inclusion of the skin tones content was 3.86 (SD±1.7). Open-ended feedback revealed three key themes: a) the need for further depth in the exploration of skin tone assessment; b) desire for skin tones content to include real world examples; c) lack of appreciation of skin tones considerations.</p> <p>Better integration of skin tone module content and expansion of this inclusive practice to other undergraduate nursing and paramedicine units is needed.</p>