Medical students' knowledge of race-related history reveals areas for improvement in achieving health equity.
BMC Med Educ
; 22(1): 612, 2022 Aug 10.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-35948907
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Medical schools have increasingly integrated social justice, anti-racism, and health equity training into their curricula. Yet, no research examines whether medical students understand the complex history of racial injustice. We sought to investigate the relationship between medical students' historical knowledge and their perceptions regarding health equity.METHODS:
Medical students at one large urban medical school self-rated their familiarity and importance of various racially-significant historical events and persons, as well as their agreement with statements regarding health equity, education, and preparedness to act. Descriptive and multivariate analyses were conducted in R.RESULTS:
Of 166 (RR=31.3%) participants, 96% agreed that understanding historical context is necessary in medicine; yet 65% of students could not describe the historical significance of racial events or persons. Only 57% felt that they understood this context, and the same percentage felt other medical students did not. A minority of students felt empowered (40%) or prepared (31%) to take action when they witness racial injustice in healthcare. Multiracial identity was significantly associated with increased knowledge of African American history (p<0.01), and a humanities background was significantly associated with increased knowledge of Latin American history (p=0.017). There was a positive, significant relationship between advocacy statements, such as "I have taken action" (p<0.001) and "I know the roots of racism" (p<0.001) with mean familiarity of historical events.CONCLUSIONS:
This study demonstrates that while students agree that racism has no place in healthcare, there remains a paucity of knowledge regarding many events and figures in the history of American race relations and civil rights, with implications for future physicians' patient care and health equity efforts.Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Estudiantes de Medicina
/
Equidad en Salud
/
Racismo
Aspecto:
Determinantes_sociais_saude
/
Equity_inequality
Límite:
Humans
País/Región como asunto:
America do norte
Idioma:
En
Revista:
BMC Med Educ
Asunto de la revista:
EDUCACAO
Año:
2022
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Estados Unidos