Portland, OR– Medical students who attend racially and ethnically diverse medical schools say they are more prepared to care for patients in a diverse society, a new study in the current issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association finds. The study is the first of its kind to examine the link between medical school diversity and educational benefits.
Dr. Somnath Saha of the Portland VA Medical Center and colleagues examined whether the proportion of minority students within a medical school made a difference in whether students said they felt prepared to care for diverse patient populations; their attitudes about access to health care; and plans to care for patients in areas that are traditionally underserved by the health care system. The researches defined diversity as the proportion of students from different racial and ethnic backgrounds, as well as the degree to which the medical schools promoted interracial interaction. They excluded data from historically black and Puerto Rican medical schools, where minority groups comprise the majority of students.
The survey of more than 20,000 graduating medical students from 118 medical schools found that white students who attend racially diverse medical schools said they felt better prepared than students at less diverse schools to care for racial and ethnic minority patients. They are also more likely to endorse access to adequate health care as a right. However, the researchers found no association between the diversity of a medical school and whether white students intended to provide care in underserved areas.
“Diversity matters when it comes to training the next-generation of medical leaders,” said Saha, an associate professor at the Oregon Health and Science University and a former Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Generalist Physician Faculty Scholar. “Students who train in diverse medical schools are better prepared to meet the needs of our diverse population.”
Many medical schools have policies and programs to achieve racial diversity and increase the numbers of American American, Latino and Native American students, who are underrepresented in the physician workforce. These policies have come under scrutiny in recent years as being unnecessary and discriminatory. However, Saha and colleagues argue that racial and ethnic diversity in medical education are key components of creating a physician workforce that can best meet the needs of a rapidly increasing diverse population, and help end racial disparities in health care. The study lends support to U.S. Supreme Court decisions that racial diversity in the student body is associated with measurable, positive educational benefits, they write.
The study also found that student body diversity is necessary, but not sufficient by itself for all students to realize the educational benefits of diversity. Medical schools must actively promote positive interaction among students from different backgrounds, as well as have a critical mass of minority students, to achieve the full educational benefits of diversity.
