V.M. Ngo is a third-year medical student, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Richmond, Virginia.
S. Beaverson is a third-year medical student, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Richmond, Virginia.
Acad Med. 2022 Jun 1;97(6):818-823. doi: 10.1097/ACM.0000000000004557. Epub 2022 May 19.
The national struggles for social justice that have dominated headlines since 2020 are reflected in the challenges academic health centers are confronting as they strive to become more antiracist. One of the largest challenges for these institutions may be the inertia of the status quo. While faculty may have become accustomed to a status quo that perpetuates inequity, students provide perspectives that can disrupt this inertia and lead to positive change. Students, however, face barriers to antiracist work, including power gradients (i.e., different amounts of power people possess according to their position in a hierarchy) and a need to be accepted as part of the physician profession. In this article, the authors examine these challenges to student antiracist advocacy. They identify student empowerment, faculty allyship, and sustainability as essential principles for student antiracist work. They suggest this work could be operationalized through sequential student-led task forces focused on addressing the most pressing antiracist issues. The authors further recommend an approach to professionalism and development of a physician professional identity based on the values of antiracism rather than on existing norms. With this foundation, students may be able to engage in antiracist work, build professional identities that are more antiracist, and become physicians who can ensure a more just health care environment for their patients and communities.
自 2020 年以来，主导新闻头条的全国性社会正义斗争反映了学术医疗中心在努力变得更加反种族主义时所面临的挑战。这些机构面临的最大挑战之一可能是现状的惯性。虽然教职员工可能已经习惯了一种使不平等永久化的现状，但学生提供的观点可以打破这种惯性，带来积极的变化。然而，学生在从事反种族主义工作时面临障碍，包括权力梯度（即，根据在等级制度中的位置，人们拥有不同数量的权力）以及被接纳为医生职业一部分的需求。在本文中，作者探讨了学生反种族主义倡导面临的这些挑战。他们确定了学生赋权、教师盟友关系和可持续性是学生反种族主义工作的重要原则。他们建议，通过专注于解决最紧迫的反种族主义问题的学生领导的后续工作队，可以实施这项工作。作者还建议采用一种以反种族主义价值观为基础的职业和医生职业认同的发展方法，而不是基于现有规范。有了这个基础，学生们或许能够参与反种族主义工作，建立更加反种族主义的职业认同，并成为能够为患者和社区确保更公正的医疗环境的医生。
