Developing and delivering a migraine disparities and diagnosis undergraduate medical educational program to underrepresented in medicine medical student members of the Student National Medical Association: A pilot project
Authors: Charleston Larry 
Published: July 2024

Objective/Background

Migraine is underdiagnosed. On average, medical students have approximately 3 h of exposure to headache education throughout medical school training. Moreover, some medical students have racially‐based biases in pain. There is a paucity of underrepresented in medicine (UIM) headache practitioners. UIM practitioners are more likely to practice in underserved communities and provider‐patient ethnic concordance may help eliminate healthcare disparities. The Student National Medical Association (SNMA) is an organization committed to supporting current and future UIM medical students and addressing the needs of underserved communities. The goal of this project was to develop and deliver a brief Migraine Diagnosis and Disparities Undergraduate Medical Education Program (MD2UMEP) to increase awareness of migraine diagnosis and disparities in UIM medical students in the SNMA.

Methods

For connecting/relationship‐building with SNMA, the SNMA Region V website was reviewed. Calls were made to Wayne State University School of Medicine (WSUSOM) Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (ODEI) explaining the educational initiative with subsequent emails to the Director of WSUSOM's ODEI followed by a video‐conference meeting (VCM). VCMs were conducted with two SNMA member leaders from WSUSOM. A local and regional presentation/delivery of the MD2UMEP was planned. Communication was maintained electronically. For development/delivery of the MD2UMEP, headache literature was reviewed for key concepts underpinning migraine diagnosis and migraine disparities with a focus on African Americans. Slides with talking points were developed with references. Pre‐ and posttest questions were drafted and made accessible via a QR code. The MD2UMEP was presented and students completed the questionnaires. Descriptive statistics were used to quantify responses.

Results

The MD2UMEP work began July 31, 2021, with program delivered in final form on October 1, 2022. A professional relationship was established with SNMA leadership. A MD2UMEP was developed then administered at the 2022 SNMA Region V Medical Education Conference. Headache medicine was introduced to UIM SNMA medical students. Anonymously, nine individuals responded to the MD2UMEP pretest questions. Eight individuals answered the posttest questions. At the program's conclusion, UIM student performance improved on seven of 10 test questions on migraine diagnosis and disparities and remained at 100% on one of 10 test questions. On two of the questions, the number correct remained the same (although percentage overall increased due to the smaller denominator). There was a higher proportion of correct responses on the posttest.

Conclusions

There is great need for migraine diagnosis and disparities education among medical students. A new migraine diagnosis and disparities program was developed for medical students. SNMA members were receptive to the MD2UMEP and it strengthened their knowledge of migraine diagnosis and disparities. This program exposed UIM medical students to headache medicine.