Dealing with diversity in medical education

Recent ideas on ethnic diversity in medical education: one step forward, two steps back?

“…1,2 In their commentary, Stegers-Jager and Themmen discuss briefly the ethnic disparities in health care education and highlight their own experiences using data showing attainment inequalities between ethnic minority and White Dutch students. 1 Although the authors posit several explanations for the discrepancy, we believe examiner bias and ethnic discrimination are unlikely to account for the full picture as the difference in performance is maintained in machine-marked multiple-choice question examinations. 3,4 We agree that there may be pressure on ethnic minority students to fit into the predominant cultural zeitgeist.…”

“…Editor – Several recent publications in Medical Education have touched on the critical issues of culture and ethnicity and their impact on medical education . In their commentary, Stegers‐Jager and Themmen discuss briefly the ethnic disparities in health care education and highlight their own experiences using data showing attainment inequalities between ethnic minority and White Dutch students .…”

“…We agree that there may be pressure on ethnic minority students to fit into the predominant cultural zeitgeist. However, the solution, we feel, does not lie in making wholesale institutional change to accommodate minority students in terms of course content and assessment methods, as Stegers‐Jager and Themmen suggest. This is an unattainable model.…”

“…that ethnic minority patients may have needs that differ from those of the typical White Dutch patient. Although we welcome changes that seek to improve patient satisfaction, we are wary of the suggestion that it may be necessary to abandon a patient‐centred approach when treating patients from certain cultures . Although medical paternalism still predominates in many cultures around the world, we do not endorse the adoption of such a model for any ethnic minority patient.…”

Dealing with diversity: stepping backwards to see the whole picture

“…Editor – As the authors of ‘Dealing with diversity in medical education’, we thank Mohammad Ali and Mohammed Halim for their recent contribution to the debate on diversity in this journal.…”