All Hands on Deck: Using the BOATS Framework to Mitigate Bias in Written Evaluations

Monday, May 1, 2023

8:00 AM – 9:30 AM ET

Location: Convention Center: 103 A

CE: Live CME: 1.50

Leader(s)

JL

Joyce Li, MD MPH

Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Emergency Medicine
Boston Children's Hospital
boston, Massachusetts, United States

Co-Leader(s)

Amanda Stewart, MD, MPH (she/her/hers)

Lead Physicians for Clinician Advocacy
Boston Children's Hospital
Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Marcella Luercio, MD

Pediatric Hospitalist
Boston Children's Hospital
Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Michael Fishman, MD (he/him/his)

Chief Resident
Pediatrics
Boston Children’s Hospital
Boston Children's Hospital, Boston Medical Center
ROSLINDALE, Massachusetts, United States
George Dalembert, MD, MSHP

Attending Physician; Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics
Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
KM

Kelsey Miller, MD, EdM (she/her/hers)

Attending Physician in Pediatric Emergency Medicine
Boston Children's Hospital
Brookline, Massachusetts, United States
Eric Fleegler, Md mph (he/him/his)

Pediatric Emergency Physicians
Emergency Medicine
Boston Children's Hospital
Needham, Massachusetts, United States
Todd Lyons, MD, MPH

Associate Professor
Emergency Medicine
Harvard Medical School/Boston Children's Hospital
Wayland, Massachusetts, United States
Kate Dorney, MD, MSHPEd (she/her/hers)

Attending physician, associate program director
Boston Children's Hospital
Newton, Massachusetts, United States
Sonia Jarrett, MD (she/her/hers)

Pediatric Emergency Medicine Fellow
Boston Children's Hospital
Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
Lois Lee, MD, MPH (she/her/hers)

Associate Professor
Emergency Medicine
Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School
Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Joshua Nagler, MD, MHPEd

Associate Division Chief, Director of Medical Education, and Fellowship Director, Division of Emergency Medicine
Boston Children's Hospital
Brookline, Massachusetts, United States
Michelle Niescierenko, MD, MPH (she/her/hers)

Director of Global Health/Emergency Medicine Attending
Boston Children's Hospital
Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Alexander Hirsch, MD

Attending Physician
Boston Children's Hospital
Brookline, Massachusetts, United States

Disclosure(s):

Joyce Li, MD MPH: No financial relationships to disclose

Marcella Luercio, MD: No financial relationships to disclose

Michael D. Fishman, MD: No financial relationships to disclose

George Dalembert, MD, MSHP: I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.

Kelsey A. Miller, MD, EdM: No financial relationships to disclose

Eric Fleegler, Md mph: I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.

Todd W. Lyons, MD, MPH: I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.

Kate Dorney, MD, MSHPEd: No financial relationships to disclose

Sonia Jarrett, MD: No financial relationships to disclose

Lois K. Lee, MD, MPH: I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.

Joshua Nagler, MD, MHPEd: No financial relationships to disclose

Michelle Niescierenko, MD, MPH: No financial relationships to disclose

Alexander Hirsch, MD: No financial relationships to disclose

Workshop

Description: Implicit, or unconscious, bias commonly affect evaluations of trainees and colleagues, particularly for women and those who are underrepresented in medicine. Biased evaluations limit opportunities for career advancement, and worsen disparities in representation in the medical workforce. Additionally, these biases can be insidious, challenging to discuss, and difficult to perceive and address without advanced training and concrete skills.

In this workshop, participants will learn to use a tool to minimize bias in their own evaluations of trainees or colleagues, as well as improve the overall quality of their evaluations. Participants will practice writing an evaluation based on a simulated, videotaped trainee-supervisor interaction, after which they will receive a brief introduction to the tool: the BOATS framework. Participants will subsequently move into interactive small groups where they will reflect on how bias has impacted evaluations in their past experience and discuss strategies to improve evaluations and mitigate bias. Participants will then critically review the evaluations written earlier in the session in a peer coaching model, and have the opportunity to individually revise their evaluation using newly acquired skills from the workshop. Small groups will be facilitated by medical education experts who are skilled in navigating these nuanced and sometimes challenging conversations, and trained in the use of the BOATS framework. Participants will leave the session with tangible skills to detect and mitigate bias, feeling empowered to write stronger and less biased evaluations, and can bring these transferrable skills back to their own practice setting/institution.

Learning Objectives:

Describe how bias impacts evaluations and strategies to mitigate bias and improve evaluation writing.
Apply the BOATS framework in a critical self-review of their evaluations.
Write and revise their evaluations using newly acquired skills to minimize bias and improve overall evaluation quality.