Western Sydney University, School of Medicine, Ainsworth Building, Campbelltown Campus, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia.
BMC Med Educ. 2019 Jul 29;19(1):288. doi: 10.1186/s12909-019-1715-7.
In Australia, the proportion of medical students with disability remains low compared to students with disability in other university courses and to the prevalence of disability in society. Arguments for inclusion include medical school obligations to respond to community values in their programs, and that doctors with disabilities can offer valuable insights for patient care from their experiences. This study aimed to inform inclusive and socially accountable medical programs by investigating community views on doctors and medical students with disability.
A concurrent mixed methods study was conducted, simultaneously collecting quantitative fixed responses, and qualitative free text responses to provide in-depth and triangulated data on community views. Frequency and thematic analysis within and across response categories was used to identify patterns and relationships, providing context and meaning to the quantitative data for the integrated findings.
Of 207 respondents aged 17 to 71 years, 71% were female, and 60.2% had university level education. Most (92.3%) knew someone with a long standing disability, illness, mental health condition or learning difficulty, 74.7% agreed that a person with a disability should be encouraged to study medicine, 79.7% agreed that a person with a disability should be accepted into medical school, and 81.4% that including people with disability would be an advantage in the medical profession. Five integrated themes explained these views: 1) Fair selection, support and monitoring is expected of medical schools, 2) Life experiences of disability promotes real empathy in doctors, 3) Career considerations for those with disability, 4) Medical role models to address disabling social barriers, and 5) Responsibility to monitor own health and ability to perform.
This study indicates Australian community support for inclusion of people with disability as medical students and practitioners. Findings also suggest community expectations and trust in medical schools to effectively select and graduate only those who will be capable doctors, and to support health and development of all students towards being competent graduates. These findings provide support for medical schools to develop inclusive practices in medical education and training relevant to the health services and communities they serve.
在澳大利亚，残疾医学生的比例与其他大学课程的残疾学生相比以及与社会残疾患病率相比仍然较低。支持包容的论点包括医学院有义务在其课程中回应社区价值观，以及残疾医生可以从他们的经验中为患者护理提供有价值的见解。本研究旨在通过调查社区对残疾医生和医学生的看法，为包容性和对社会负责的医学计划提供信息。
同时进行了一项混合方法研究，同时收集定量固定回复和定性自由文本回复，以提供有关社区观点的深入和三角数据。使用频率和主题分析在回复类别内和跨类别进行，以识别模式和关系，为综合研究结果提供定量数据的背景和意义。
在 207 名年龄在 17 至 71 岁之间的受访者中，71%为女性，60.2%受过大学教育。大多数人（92.3%）认识患有长期残疾、疾病、心理健康状况或学习困难的人，74.7%同意鼓励残疾人士学习医学，79.7%同意残疾人士应被接受进入医学院，81.4%认为包括残疾人士将是医疗行业的优势。五个综合主题解释了这些观点：1）期望医学院进行公平的选拔、支持和监督；2）残疾的生活经历促进医生的真正同理心；3）残疾人士的职业考虑；4）医学榜样以解决致残的社会障碍；5）监测自身健康和履行能力的责任。
本研究表明，澳大利亚社区支持残疾人士作为医学生和从业者的包容。研究结果还表明，社区对医学院的期望和信任，认为医学院能够有效地选拔和培养只有那些有能力成为医生的学生，并支持所有学生的健康和发展，使其成为有能力的毕业生。这些发现为医学院在医疗教育和培训中制定与他们所服务的卫生服务和社区相关的包容性实践提供了支持。
