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

Incorporando a Competência Cultural para Atenção à Saúde Materna em População Quilombola na Educação das Profissões da Saúde

“…Adicionalmente, no tocante às competências relacionadas à atenção das necessidades individuais de saúde, as DCN estabelecem que os cursos de Medicina devem contemplar o desenvolvimento de habilidades de realização de anamnese que considerem o contexto de vida e os elementos biológicos, psicológicos, socioeconômicos e a investigação de práticas culturais de cura em saúde, de matriz afro-indígena--brasileira e de outras relacionadas ao processo saúde-doença. Tais pressupostos remetem ao que, na literatura internacional sobre educação das profissões da saúde, é referido como competências culturais (cultural competence ou cross-cultural competence) [2][3][4][5][6] .…”

Dealing with diversity: stepping backwards to see the whole picture

“…According to Ali and Halim, the aim should be a healthy process of integration, and we cannot but agree with them. In line with a recent paper by Tienda, we would like to stress that in order to promote integration, medical schools will have to organise ‘meaningful social and academic interactions among students who differ in their experiences, views and traits’ .…”

“…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.…”

“…Ali and Halim argue that, irrespective of the diverse backgrounds of students and patients, medical schools should not make ‘wholesale institutional change to accommodate minority students in terms of course content and assessment methods nor abandon a patient‐centred approach’.…”

“…Ali and Halim also argue that a universal method of assessment and examination cannot be avoided, but we wonder what the reference standard would be given that even within Western Europe, differences exist in doctor–patient communication . Furthermore, our own research has shown that Western minority students (originating from Belgium, Germany, the UK, the USA, etc.)…”