P66 In what way does skin of colour representation in undergraduate dermatology education influence medical students’ clinical experiences?: A national, collaborative, mixed-methods study

Abstract

Introduction The pandemic has highlighted health inequalities in the UK, with Black and Asian ethnic groups experiencing higher mortality than White ethnic groups. Alongside this, a wider recognition of societal inequalities has lead to a drive for increased racial representation in medical school curricula. This is especially relevant to dermatology, where skin colour has clear effects on the presentation of important conditions. It has been hypothesised that delayed diagnosis and consequent worse outcomes may result from physicians’ unfamiliarity with the appearance of dermatologic presentations on skin-of-colour (SoC). We propose a national, cross-sectional, mixed-methods study using student collaboration aiming to understand how SoC representation in undergraduate dermatology teaching influences medical students’ clinical experiences. Methods The study will involve three phases, delivered in part by student collaborator at each institution: first, a national online survey of final year students from 34 UK medical schools to investigate their recollections of SoC representation in their dermatology teaching. Second, a survey of faculty members at each medical school to investigate how SoC representation is incorporated into the broader design of their institution's dermatology teaching. Finally, a series of online focus groups to explore students’ ideas about the influence of SoC representation in dermatology education on their clinical experiences with patients of varied skin tones. Proposed Impact Our findings may help inform the timely and effective provision of diverse SoC representation in undergraduate medical education and, more broadly, demonstrate the usefulness of collaboratively-acquired, student-generated data in guiding the future development of medical school curricula.