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Resitting, being offered a 'second chance' at an exam following failure to achieve a passing grade, is both common and stressful in medical school. There is a significant gap in the medical education literature around evidence-based support for resitting medical students. The study explores medical student experiences of resits through a peer-assisted learning programme (PAL) delivered to early years resitting medical students at Imperial College School of Medicine (ICSM) in 2021 and 2022. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first qualitative study analysing early years medical students' experiences of resitting exams. The authors performed an inductive thematic analysis of 22 semi-structured interviews with early years medical students who resat exams at ICSM in 2022. The authors identified three key themes and a cross-cutting theme: Theme 1. Self: students' individual and internal characteristics and experiences that influenced their journey of resitting exams. Subthemes included self-sufficiency and students' emotional approach to resitting; Theme 2. Others: resitting students' social networks. Subthemes explored students' relationships as part of the ICSM academic community, with near-peer role models and with their emotional support networks; Theme 3. Structures: organisational and structural factors that influence student experiences of resit exams. Subthemes included academic information, welfare, and socio-economic factors. Cross-cutting theme. Stigma: experienced a lack of open communication around resitting. The data emphasises the holistic nature of resitting, with students' self-image, their relationships with others, and the structural and institutional context all impacting on their experience, cross-cut with their experience of stigma through silence. The authors suggest that resitting is about more than academic ability: the broader context of resit stigma plays a key role in students' experiences of resits. PAL may be a useful tool to address resit stigma alongside institutional commitments to rethink medical school culture around academic failure.

International medical students (IMS; non-U.S. citizens/permanent residents) greatly enhance the diversity of U.S. medical schools and serve in areas of greatest healthcare needs. Despite 15% of the US population being foreign born, international students represent < 2% of US-MD matriculants. Factors that contribute to this underrepresentation of IMS remain unknown. In this study, we analyzed the accessibility, quality, and inclusivity of publicly available admissions and financial aid policies at all US-MD schools, with the goal of evaluating potential institutional and informational barriers faced by IMS. Institutional webpages and American Association of Medical College (AAMC) databases were searched from May-July 2023 to gather IMS-specific admissions and financial aid information from 153 accredited US-MD schools. Two-tailed t-test or chi-square analysis was used to examine differences. An inductive thematic approach was used to qualitatively categorize institutional webpage friendliness. While 45% (69/153) of U.S.-MD schools reported accepting IMS, only 18% (27/153) admitted students without restrictions (e.g., Canadians only, state/religious preference). Further, 38% (26/69) of the schools that accept IMS did not provide financial aid information, while nearly two-thirds of the remaining schools required proof of personal financial ability with no institutional/federal support. International students also entered schools with a higher average Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) score and Grade Point Average (GPA). In the national AAMC databases, 19 additional programs were listed as accepting IMS although the institutional webpages stated otherwise; the databases also lacked details on specific restrictions posed by the majority of institutions. Of all 153 webpages, only 14% were deemed 'international friendly.' Restrictive admissions and financial aid policies as well as the poor quality and access to information are major barriers that affect IMS. Strategies that aim to overcome these challenges can greatly help advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in medical education.

Background: Anti-racism curricula are increasingly being recognized as an integral component of medical education. To our knowledge, there has not yet been a publication exploring resident perspectives from multiple institutions and explicitly representing both underrepresented in medicine (UIM) and non-UIM perspectives.

Objective: To explore and compare UIM and non-UIM pediatric residents' perspectives on the content and qualities of meaningful anti-racism curricula.

Methods: We performed an IRB-approved multi-institutional, qualitative study that incorporated Sotto-Santiago et al's conceptual framework for anti-racism education. Between February and May 2021, we conducted focus groups of UIM and non-UIM pediatric residents at three large residency programs in the United States. We developed focus group guides using literature review, expert consensus, feedback from study team racial equity experts, and piloting. Focus groups were conducted virtually, audio-recorded, and transcribed verbatim. We employed thematic analysis to code transcripts, create categories, and develop themes until we reached thematic sufficiency. We completed member checking to ensure trustworthiness of themes.

Results: Forty residents participated (19 UIM and 21 non-UIM) in a total of six focus groups. We identified 7 themes, summarized as: 1) racism in medicine is pervasive, therefore (2) anti-racism education is critical to the development of competent physicians, and 3) education should extend to all healthcare providers. 4) Residents desired education focused on action-oriented strategies to advance anti-racism, 5) taught by those with both learned and lived experiences with racism, 6) in a psychologically safe space for UIM residents, and 7) with adequate time and financial resources for successful implementation and engagement.

Conclusion: Our multi-institutional study affirms the need for pediatric resident anti-racism education, promotes co-creation as a method to affect culture change, and provides practical strategies for curricular design and implementation.

Aspiring to become a physician is a natural expectation for applicants to medical school. However, choosing a career in medicine is a critical decision, especially in countries where high school students can apply to medical school without an undergraduate degree. Students may select a medical career for various reasons, including parental pressure and academic performance. The question of whether there are students who enroll in medical school without clear intentions of becoming doctors has not been extensively investigated in the literature. We conducted a retrospective study at a national university in Japan. Given the scarcity of research examining medical students who did not have a clear intention to become doctors at the time of admission, we created a survey. The questionnaire asked students whether they had clear intentions to become doctors upon enrollment, and those who responded affirmatively were defined as students with clear intentions to become doctors at admission and assigned to the first group. The second group was composed of students who entered medical school without clear intentions to become doctors. We then compared the differences in sociodemographic characteristics and career determinants between these groups using statistical methods, including Chi-square tests and logistic regression. The collection rate of the questionnaire was 76.2%. We found that 28.8% of students at a national medical school in Japan entered medical school without clear intentions of becoming doctors. For these students, 'parental expectations' and 'peer influence' were identified as significant career determinants. No sociodemographic characteristics showed significant associations with the ambiguity of students' intentions to pursue a medical career at admission. This study confirmed that some students enroll in medical school without clear intentions of becoming doctors. The background factors related to this type of student were parental expectations and the influence of peers on career choice.

When clinician-educators and medical education researchers use and discuss medical education research, they can advance innovation in medical education as well as improve its quality. To facilitate the use and discussions of medical education research, we created a prefatory visual representation of key medical education research topics and associated experts. We conducted one-on-one virtual interviews with medical education journal editorial board members to identify what they perceived as key medical education research topics as well as who they associated, as experts, with each of the identified topics. We used content analysis to create categories representing key topics and noted occurrences of named experts. Twenty-one editorial board members, representing nine of the top medical education journals, participated. From the data we created a figure entitled, Medical Education Research Library. The library includes 13 research topics, with assessment as the most prevalent. It also notes recognized experts, including van der Vleuten, ten Cate, and Norman. The key medical education research topics identified and included in the library align with what others have identified as trends in the literature. Selected topics, including workplace-based learning, equity, diversity, and inclusion, physician wellbeing and burnout, and social accountability, are emerging. Once transformed into an open educational resource, clinician-educators and medical education researchers can use and contribute to the functional library. Such continuous expansion will generate better awareness and recognition of diverse perspectives. The functional library will help to innovate and improve the quality of medical education through evidence-informed practices and scholarship.

India has been historically challenged by an insufficient and heterogeneously clustered distribution of healthcare infrastructure. While resource-limited healthcare settings, such as major parts of India, require multidisciplinary approaches for improvement, one key approach is the recruitment and training of a healthcare workforce representative of its population. This requires overcoming barriers to equity and representation in Indian medical education that are multi-faceted, historical, and rooted in inequality. However, literature is lacking regarding the financial or economic barriers, and their implications on equity and representation in the Indian allopathic physician workforce, which this review sought to describe. Keyword-based searches were carried out in PubMed, Google Scholar, and Scopus in order to identify relevant literature published till November 2023. This state-of-the-art narrative review describes the existing multi-pronged economic barriers, recent and forthcoming changes deepening these barriers, and how these may limit opportunities for having a diverse workforce. Three sets of major economic barriers exist to becoming a specialized medical practitioner in India - resources required to get selected into an Indian medical school, resources required to pursue medical school, and resources required to get a residency position. The resources in this endeavor have historically included substantial efforts, finances, and privilege, but rising barriers in the medical education system have worsened the state of inequity. Preparation costs for medical school and residency entrance tests have risen steadily, which may be further exacerbated by recent major policy changes regarding licensing and residency selection. Additionally, considerable increases in direct and indirect costs of medical education have recently occurred. Urgent action in these areas may help the Indian population get access to a diverse and representative healthcare workforce and also help alleviate the shortage of primary care physicians in the country. Discussed are the reasons for rural healthcare disparities in India and potential solutions related to medical education.

Academics in medicine are frequently asked to serve on panels to discuss their clinical, research, education, administrative or personal expertise. While panel discussions are often the highlight of a conference or event, in the medical literature, there is very little published on how an individual can effectively prepare and present as an expert panelist. This paper offers guidelines that will enable academics to prepare, deliver, and engage in active dialogue during a panel discussion. Specific tactics include how to accept invitations to serve on a panel, conducting pre-panel conference meetings and background research, preparing concise opening statements and new insights, connecting with the audience, answering questions in a collaborative spirit, and debriefing after the panel. These guidelines will be valuable to any individual invited to serve on a panel discussion and will promote future panelists in engaging in constructive and fulfilling dialogue, with the ultimate goal of leaving the audience with a greater understanding of the topic of discourse.

Introduction: People who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, intersex, and other sexual/gender minorities (LGBTQ+) may experience discrimination when seeking healthcare. Medical students should be trained in inclusive and affirming care for LGBTQ+ patients. This narrative literature review explores the landscape of interventions and evaluations related to LGBTQ+ health content taught in medical schools in the USA and suggests strategies for further curriculum development.

Methods: PubMed, ERIC, and Education Research Complete databases were systematically searched for peer-reviewed articles on LGBTQ+ health in medical student education in the USA published between 1 January 2011-6 February 2023. Articles were screened for eligibility and data was abstracted from all eligible articles. Data abstraction included the type of intervention or evaluation, sample population and size, and key outcomes.

Results: One hundred thirty-four articles met inclusion criteria and were reviewed. This includes 6 (4.5%) that evaluate existing curriculum, 77 (57.5%) study the impact of curriculum components and interventions, 36 (26.9%) evaluate student knowledge and learning experiences, and 15 (11.2%) describe the development of broad learning objectives and curriculum. Eight studies identified student knowledge gaps related to gender identity and affirming care and these topics were covered in 34 curriculum interventions.

Conclusion: Medical student education is important to address health disparities faced by the LGBTQ+ community, and has been an increasingly studied topic in the USA. A variety of curriculum interventions at single institutions show promise in enhancing student knowledge and training in LGBTQ+ health. Despite this, multiple studies indicate that students report inadequate education on certain topics with limitations in their knowledge and preparedness to care for LGBTQ+ patients, particularly transgender and gender diverse patients. Additional integration of LGBTQ+ curriculum content in areas of perceived deficits could help better prepare future physicians to care for LGBTQ+ patients and populations.

Assigning students to work in permanent teams is a design principle in Team-based learning (TBL). It has been assumed that a stable team composition supports the emergence of collaborative problem-solving and learning: when students became more familiar with each other, they shared more information and resolved discrepancies together, which in turn stimulated knowledge acquisition and comprehension. However, this assumption had not been probed by a randomized controlled trial with performance assessment as an outcome. In an online course for second term medical students, 50% of the students were reassigned to new teams for each of the 24 problems to be solved during four classes, thus precluding familiarity. The learning outcome was assessed shortly after the third of four classes by a domain knowledge test. Whether TBL teams were permanent or temporary did not affect the score of a domain knowledge test. As expected, participation in online TBL improved the domain knowledge test results. Overall, the permanent team seems to be less important for cognitive learning outcomes than previously assumed, but this may depend on the specific educational setting. However, team familiarity may still be important for team decision-making. As clinical reasoning in the medical workplace often involves collaborating in changing teams, future research on TBL should focus on how to utilize this format to prepare medical students for decision-making and optimal learning outcomes under these conditions.

Teaching is an essential skill for future doctors. Peer-assisted learning (PAL)-where students take up a teaching role at an early stage of their training-is widely used in medical curricula. No studies have explored the long-term perceived impact of peer teaching. Therefore, we aimed to determine how former peer teachers reflected on PAL and its perceived long-term impact. In this longitudinal descriptive study, we conducted 42 semi-structured interviews with 11 former peer teachers at the University of Antwerp. Five of them were interviewed 6 months after PAL; 6 of them 9 years after PAL. This latter group was also interviewed during PAL in a previous study. We conducted secondary analyses of previously collected interviews, consistently comparing the findings with new data gathered from the current interviews. Using realist thematic analysis, topic summary themes were generated. Former peer teachers reflected on their PAL experience with a lot of satisfaction. Those meanwhile working as residents are still passionate about teaching. Peer teachers experienced a gain in clinical examination- and professional skills in the long-term, facilitating a smoother transition to their internship. Our findings suggest that PAL selects diverse but committed students. The longitudinal data demonstrate how PAL initiates or stimulates different skills in diverse students, including public speaking, teaching, time management, and self-efficacy in specific clinical skills. Regarding the chicken-and-egg question, our study encompasses both longitudinal cases illustrating the pre-existing skill theory and cases demonstrating how achieved competences were induced by PAL. Former peer teachers experienced long-term benefits of PAL, which eased their transition into the internship. PAL has the potential to ignite a lasting passion for teaching, providing diverse and unique learning opportunities not only for the most talented and 'pre-selected' medical students but also for a range of dedicated future clinicians.