"Good doctors are those who are educated in an inclusive and diverse medical program"

Since 2019 a group of enthusiastic teachers and students started investing time and efforts (through HOKa (Higher Education Quality Agreements) funds) to get diversity and inclusion (D&I) in the medical curriculum and support a safer and more inclusive learning environment. The Erasmus MC, and the education they offer, is slowly becoming more inclusive; they are using a holistic approach informed by research that establishes what the deep lying systemic obstacles to diversity and inclusion in their faculty are.  

The workshop leader Dr. Kate Kirk, project lead for education and students at the EUR Diversity and Inclusion office, started the event with an icebreaker wherein the participants were asked to share their associations with “inclusive education”. During the ensuing discussion consensus arose that the goal of “inclusive education” should be to ensuring belonging and to meet the educational needs of diverse students. This discussion highlighted the nature of the problem the D&I education team at the Erasmus MC has set out to solve; 30-40% of their students have a migrant background and unfortunately don’t always feel a sense of belonging or that their educational needs are meet.

The first speaker, Prof. dr. van der Broek, Director of Medical Education, made clear why diversity and inclusion is seen as a priority: they are in the business of selecting and training students to be good doctors and good doctors need to be exposed to and reflect the diversity of the patients they see. “Doctoring is teamwork which requires different perspectives”. The D&I curriculum in the bachelor thus begins with self-reflection on identity. In her workshop Dr. Haalboom explained how bachelor students examine their own (personal and social) identity in an intersectional way, i.e., by looking at the multifaceted aspects of their identities.

Indeed, a participant in the workshop and researcher at the Institute of Medical Education Research (iMERR), shared a study into the grading practices of teachers in medical programs, which showed that ethnic majority students receive higher grades compared with ethnic minority students in clinical grades (Andel, van C.E.E 2019). This study and others conducted by the Institute of Medical Education Research were used to inform the D&I teacher trainings presented by Sofie van Scheyen. These scientific results inspired Ms. van Scheyen and her colleagues to develop a training that help teachers to overcome practices that get in the way of the Erasmus MC’s inclusive goals.   

Thus far the D&I approach taken at the Erasmus MC has been bottom-up. Students, like workshop leaders, Yassine Ben Brahim and Ewout Lauwers from DISCO (Diversity and Inclusion Student commission) have played a vital role in this. For the past two years students from DISCO have organized a first day of class in which new bachelor students are introduced to each other, teachers and more senior students through icebreakers and the sharing of vulnerabilities. The new students learn that it is okay to struggle in your studies and new student life. Similar programs in the US have proven that students, especially those with migrant backgrounds or first-generation students, are more likely to stick with their studies when the going get rough if they know their classmates and teachers also had struggles (Perez 2016). DISCO also supports other student and study associations in becoming more inclusive by providing guidelines in a charter and providing trainings.

Dr. David Pols, Director of the Erasmus MC Education Diversity and Inclusion Team also explained how important rituals like academic ceremonies have been re-examined to be more inclusive. All students need to feel and see that they are represented in these mile-stone moments. These ritual moments are symbolic of the cultural changes the Erasmus MC is undergoing.

However, the changes are slow and not yet fully integrated in the organization. Dr. Pols and Prof. dr. van den Broek both stressed the need for more structural commitment by upper-level management. There is only so far, a faculty can come with a short-term grant and bottom-up initiatives. More support from the top management is necessary to continue and upscale the strides made with this HOKA grant.

What is true for good doctors is true for good economist, lawyers, good business managers, good sociologists, psychologists, educationalists, artists, historians, and communication specialists. Our students will go out to work in a dynamic and diverse society that requires them to understand and work with people holding diverse perspectives and with different backgrounds. The Erasmus University and all its study programs need holistic resolute approach in inclusive education because inclusive education is “good” education.