From a sample of 3714 medical students in the UK, 57% of them were from an ethnically minoritised background, with this statistic increasing over time (Mukherji, Adas & Clarke et al, 2022). This highlights how diverse the medical field is itself, however, the area of representation and inclusivity encompasses patients and medical students alike. Therefore, this blog post will highlight the need for representation and inclusivity regarding the needs of the students, as well as the needs of the patients in anatomy education.
In regard to the importance of inclusivity and representation to medical students, research suggests that there are positive outcomes with mental health when feeling substantively represented (De Mulder, 2022). Given that over half of all students in the medical field were from an ethnically minoritised background, this highlights the necessity to provide a curriculum with diverse imagery to represent this multicultural group of students that are providing the next generation of healthcare. As mentioned previously, this representation would have beneficial impacts on the mentality of these students, as seeing people that represent yourself in areas where you are working, aids people to strive to reach their goals, supporting people of all background who receive this representation.
Furthermore, there is an importance that within the literature and imagery provided within a medical education to provide information on patients of different ethnic backgrounds. Particularly within the subsection of medical education, which is dermatology, having inclusivity within the literature is essential due to how different skin conditions and health issues can show up differently on people from different ethnic backgrounds.
An example of skin condition that presents different depending on skin tone is vitiligo. Despite being able to have an effect on all people, is may be more noticeable in people with darker skin due to the depigmentation that occurs, with a higher level of contrast on these skin tones (Haghighi, 2023). Whilst this is an example where it is easier to detect with people of darker skin tones, this is the opposite in certain occasions when attempting to diagnose different injuries or skin conditions. For example, early signs of pressure sores are more difficult to identify with darker skin tones, and this subtle skin colour change can potentially lead to causing harm and contributes to health disparities, due to how wound management can only start once the wound has been identified correctly (Francis, 2023). This shows that in order to teach inclusive healthcare to students, patients of all skin tones and backgrounds need to be involved in the curriculum, so that students can learn how to treat people and identify their needs regardless of skin colour.
References
De Mulder, A (2022) Making Sense of Citizens’ Sense of Being Represented. A Novel conceptualisation and Measure of Feeling Represented. Journal of Representative Democracy. pp 633-657
Francis, K (2023) Assessment and Identification of Skin Disorders in Skin of Color: An Integrative Review. Journal of Wound, Ostomy and Continence Nursing. pp 107-114
Haghighi, A (2023) Vitiligo and race: How does it affect different people. Medical News Today. Available at: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/what-race-gets-vitiligo (Accessed 22 November 2024)
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