Equal opportunities for clinical learning: is there any dust under the rug?
(2019) AMEE an international Association for Medical Education in Europe 2019- Abstract
- Background: The power and influence of the hidden curriculum - culturally situated norms and values - onlearning opportunities is a growing concern in medical education. However, while medical schools producediversity and equal treatment policies, efforts towards surfacing and addressing equal opportunities in theclinical learning environment trail behind.Summary of Work: To better understand how students perceive equal opportunities and inclusion in the clinical workplace we conducted a mixed method study. We distributed a learning climate questionnaire(the UCEEM) to medical students in clinical rotations in a Portuguese medical program and followed up results in a focus group interview with student representatives from all clinical... (More)
- Background: The power and influence of the hidden curriculum - culturally situated norms and values - onlearning opportunities is a growing concern in medical education. However, while medical schools producediversity and equal treatment policies, efforts towards surfacing and addressing equal opportunities in theclinical learning environment trail behind.Summary of Work: To better understand how students perceive equal opportunities and inclusion in the clinical workplace we conducted a mixed method study. We distributed a learning climate questionnaire(the UCEEM) to medical students in clinical rotations in a Portuguese medical program and followed up results in a focus group interview with student representatives from all clinical years.
Summary of Results: Relatively high scores on the 'Equal treatment-scale' gave the impression that students perceived that people in general were treated with equal respect and dignity in the workplace.However, lower scores on the 'student inclusion- scale' and focus group data indicated that students not always felt welcome or included in teams and some less than others. Narratives revealed discrimination based on race, gender and weight influencing patient treatment and student learning opportunities.
Discussion and Conclusions: The investigation of how students perceived the learning climate in some clinical workplaces suggest that equal opportunities and inclusion may be a blind spot. Less problematic onthe surface but a lot of dust under the rug. To broaden engagement and better understand where there truly are issues and how to respond to them, a first step could be to create spaces for reflection and dialogue among students and teachers.Take-home Messages: Evaluations on learning climate should include questions on equal opportunities and inclusion. Mixed methods are necessary to make sense of the data. Addressing the hidden curriculum and power-structures in the clinical environment is complex and privilege is less visible to those who have it. Nevertheless, these issues must be surfaced and addressed in student curricula as well as in facultydevelopment if policies are to be realized in practice. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/c71f7434-abb0-474a-95f8-fc9568005edd
- author
- Sá, Juliana ; Strand, Pia LU ; Gummesson, Christina LU ; Tjeng, Ricardo and Castelo-Branco, Miguel
- organization
- publishing date
- 2019-08-26
- type
- Contribution to conference
- publication status
- published
- subject
- conference name
- AMEE an international Association for Medical Education in Europe 2019
- conference location
- Vienna, Austria
- conference dates
- 2019-08-24 - 2019-08-28
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- c71f7434-abb0-474a-95f8-fc9568005edd
- alternative location
- https://amee.org/getattachment/Conferences/AMEE-Past-Conferences/AMEE-2019/AMEE-2019-Abstract-Book-Post-Conference.pdf
- date added to LUP
- 2019-09-11 15:06:26
- date last changed
- 2023-04-25 14:14:49
@misc{c71f7434-abb0-474a-95f8-fc9568005edd,
abstract = {{Background: The power and influence of the hidden curriculum - culturally situated norms and values - onlearning opportunities is a growing concern in medical education. However, while medical schools producediversity and equal treatment policies, efforts towards surfacing and addressing equal opportunities in theclinical learning environment trail behind.Summary of Work: To better understand how students perceive equal opportunities and inclusion in the clinical workplace we conducted a mixed method study. We distributed a learning climate questionnaire(the UCEEM) to medical students in clinical rotations in a Portuguese medical program and followed up results in a focus group interview with student representatives from all clinical years. <br/>Summary of Results: Relatively high scores on the 'Equal treatment-scale' gave the impression that students perceived that people in general were treated with equal respect and dignity in the workplace.However, lower scores on the 'student inclusion- scale' and focus group data indicated that students not always felt welcome or included in teams and some less than others. Narratives revealed discrimination based on race, gender and weight influencing patient treatment and student learning opportunities.<br/>Discussion and Conclusions: The investigation of how students perceived the learning climate in some clinical workplaces suggest that equal opportunities and inclusion may be a blind spot. Less problematic onthe surface but a lot of dust under the rug. To broaden engagement and better understand where there truly are issues and how to respond to them, a first step could be to create spaces for reflection and dialogue among students and teachers.Take-home Messages: Evaluations on learning climate should include questions on equal opportunities and inclusion. Mixed methods are necessary to make sense of the data. Addressing the hidden curriculum and power-structures in the clinical environment is complex and privilege is less visible to those who have it. Nevertheless, these issues must be surfaced and addressed in student curricula as well as in facultydevelopment if policies are to be realized in practice.}},
author = {{Sá, Juliana and Strand, Pia and Gummesson, Christina and Tjeng, Ricardo and Castelo-Branco, Miguel}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{08}},
title = {{Equal opportunities for clinical learning: is there any dust under the rug?}},
url = {{https://amee.org/getattachment/Conferences/AMEE-Past-Conferences/AMEE-2019/AMEE-2019-Abstract-Book-Post-Conference.pdf}},
year = {{2019}},
}