Academic performance of ethnic minorities in medical school

doi:10.1136/bmj.a1094

Published 19 August 2008, doi:10.1136/bmj.a1094
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a1094

Editorials

Academic performance of ethnic minorities in medical school

May be adversely affected by negative stereotyping

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Increasing the number of doctors in the workforce who come fromminority groups has been proposed as a way to tackle the healthdisparities of minority populations. Several themes have arisenregarding the education of such doctors, including low numbersof students from ethnic minorities applying for medical school,worse prior preparation in the sciences and humanities, andunderachievement in their medical education.¹

The qualitative study by Woolf and colleagues (doi: 10.1136/bmj.a1220)provides important insights into one aspect that affects clinicaleducation in the United Kingdom—how ethnic stereotypingcan add to a downward trend in performance.² This reflects findingson how race affects the evaluation of African-American studentsin the United States, including the nature of the student-teacherinteraction and the biases that may affect the evaluation ofstudents and the educational process.¹ Differences in the expectationsand treatment of students that stem from pervasive negativestereotypes adversely affect . . . [Full text of this article]

Phyllis Carr, associate dean for student affairs, Jonathon Woodson, associate dean for diversity

¹ Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02493, USA

plcarr@bu.edu

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