Twelve tips for incorporating migrant and ethnic minorities in the medical curriculum and healthcare

Abstract

Migrant and ethnic communities face several challenges within healthcare systems as patients, physicians and medical students. For health inequalities to be addressed, changes need to be made within our healthcare systems, starting from how the medical curriculum is taught to prospective clinicians. In this article, we present twelve ways to challenge the difficulties migrant and ethnic minorities face in healthcare by incorporating patient, physician and medical student factors into the medical school curriculum and healthcare, in a hope to change outcomes for our widely diverse population of patients and colleagues.

Keywords:

• Medical curriculum
• health inequalities
• cultural diversity
• ethnicity
• discrimination

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Naila Chohan

Naila Chohan, MSc (Hons), is a final year medical student at Queen’s University Belfast who graduated with a Masters in Science in Integrative Pharmacology and Physiology for Research from King’s College London with interests in clinical research and medical education.

Zahra Arzoky

Zahra Arzoky, BSc, is a final year medical student at Queen’s University Belfast who graduated with a Biomedical Science degree from St. George’s, University of London with interests in public health, research and medical education.

Naairah Khan

Naairah Khan, BSc, is a final year medical student at Queen’s University Belfast who completed an intercalated degree in Medical Sciences in Surgery and Anaesthesia at Imperial College London with interests in medical education, research and surgery.