Ye Olde Black Bag

and many others.) The group has already given me the opportunity to engage in discussions with course leads to better implement teaching regarding natural differences that occur between patients of ethnic minority backgrounds such as differences in eGFR, from earlier on within the curriculum. Overall, BAME-MSG is a great way to improve BAME representation at the start of a medical career where it is most important, which hopefully will then be reflected in clinical practise.”

Sabrina Sajjad: “As we get further along in our medical degree, it isn’t long before we start discovering all the extra requirements expected of us – from research to teaching, leadership to degrees, it is apparent that doing Medicine goes far beyond the curriculum for many pathways. For some students, this is something they know about, something they can work on – they have that help and connections. But for those from underrepresented groups, accessing these opportunities is a lot harder – and this unequal access is not only part of, but reinforces, the systemic inequalities that prevent underrepresented groups from progressing into their full potential. It’s a bitter cycle, evidenced by the BAME attainment gap where, even after overcoming the social barriers that prevent BAME students from entering university, they still do not have an equal footing – and it also feeds into our future medical careers. This feeling of constantly ‘playing catch-up’ to others is something I strongly resonated with. It led to me joining the BAME-MSG, during which time I was able to create the BAME Research Initiative at Bristol Medical School. This scheme is only one more step in closing the gap – it helps connect BAME medical students with mentors that can open the pathways into academia for them. I’m really proud of the work that this group is doing – by providing the resources, networks and support that BAME medics need, we are actively making a change.”

Khadija Meghrawi: “I helped set up the BAME-MSG to increase racial representation in all aspects of the medical curriculum, because patient safety is endangered when we aren't taught how to use our skills on everyone in our population, including people of colour. It is crucial that we understand medical knowledge doesn't exist in a vacuum - the erasure of race or in fact the harmful practice is a result of the influence of our history of racism and colonialism. We must actively work to ensure all medical practice is being researched and made effective for all in order to help combat the start inequalities in healthcare that we're seeing in minority ethnic populations, including patients with darker skin tones. The BAME-MSG has been key as a forum for students of colour to be empowered in their involvement in this process. We relay our concerns and ideas to the medical school academic staff and have been working alongside the Medical Anti-Racism Task Force to translate this into tangible action. We must create an environment where racial disparities are seen as a priority not just in isolated areas but throughout the year, because it must be relevant to all of our practice. This includes through initiatives such as increased skin diversity in dermatology, learning clinical signs on a variety of races and understanding the different prevalence of diseases depending on ethnicity. We also aim to increase awareness of social issues affecting practice such as cultural bias and sensitivity.”

Some notable things we have done so far include: Working with the medical school over the past year with various academics to begin the conversations diversifying different areas of medicine We organised the medical school agreeing to a list of commitments in response to BLM which were declared in a public letter We ran a "Race in Clinical Medicine" event with over 80 medical students, where concepts of race in medicine were presented across the year

How every medical student can play a part.

We believe that every medical student can and should play a part in tackling racial representation within the medical school. This includes:

Flagging issues within the curriculum: We urge all students to be curious about how diseases and symptoms present on BAME patients as this will make us all better doctors for our future patients. We have also created a form for students to highlight any lectures/learning materials/tutorials/cases where they feel BAME representation can be improved. This can be found through the link here: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=MH_ksn3NTkql2rGM8aQVG 5vLW72-SThBq72gpD8-5gVUNTE5SzE3UTNGNk82SzZCVEpSQVZGQVU2RC4u Educating yourself on the issues: Galenicals have put together resources that can act as a starting point for education on some key issues. It includes videos, podcasts, petitions and research that has been done into various important topics. This can be found here: https://www.galenicals.org.uk/bame-education-for-allies Stand up to discrimination: It is important that we all stand up against discrimination of any type within our various academies, the university and beyond. As doctors, we have a key part to play in influencing and leading change!

Be sure to look out for us! :)

Written by the BAME MSG group.

YE OLDE BLACK BAG 2013