Social justice in undergraduate medical education: a meta-synthesis of learners perspectives

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has illuminated disparities and inequities in healthcare globally, making it a necessity to identify, and address social and structural determinants of people’s everyday lives. Medical schools and education need to respond to and address social justice in undergraduate education. Social justice in medical education has the potential to be a foundational block to support the initiatives that have or are being implemented in our health systems.

Methods: We carried out a meta-synthesis and used an interpretative approach for the analysis. Searches were conducted of three databases: PsycINFO, Embase and Medline and were carried out in May 2021. We excluded articles that were not related to undergraduate medical students. The aim of this review was to explore literature on SJ teaching to elicit the experiences of learners to inform future SJ teaching and curriculum.

Results: Using meta-synthesis methodology, four themes emerged: personal growth of learners and professional identities; developing commitment to working with marginalised populations in their environments; integrating traditional clinical skills with advocacy, interests in human rights and SJ work; learning processes and methods.

Conclusions: Findings confirm that SJ in undergraduate medical education has an essential role. However, social justice in medical education was understood as a non-essential piece of professionalism, or as something to be learnt in the abstract method rather than as a part of everyday practice realities. Our findings suggest that creating globally competent doctors through a globally equivalent curriculum, which is balanced and with a locally invested training programme could lead to a supply or workforce that is fit for purpose for local populations.