Underrepresentation in medical school admissions through a British colonialism lens: a scoping review protocol

The objective of this review is to map the depth and breadth of the literature on underrepresented groups in medical school admissions. Specifically, we aim to define applicant groups that are underrepresented in medicine and describe how they changed over time, summarize their admission experiences, and identify support strategies throughout their admissions process.

The medical school admissions process plays a key role in shaping the physician workforce, which should reflect the populations it serves. Applicants from different gender, income, geographic, racial, and ability backgrounds have been underrepresented in medicine for sociohistorical and geopolitical reasons. However, diversity in medicine is vital for enhanced medical education and health care experiences. The literature on underrepresentation in medical school admissions has not been comprehensively summarized. A scoping review will facilitate a better understanding of groups that are underrepresented in medicine and their admission experiences in Canada and other countries with similar British colonial histories.

Articles will be eligible for inclusion if they are primary studies from Commonwealth countries about groups that are underrepresented in medicine applying to medical school. Articles will be excluded if they are not primary studies, not about medical school applicants who are underrepresented in medicine, not from the defined geographic regions, or if the full text could not be found.

A scoping review will be conducted following JBI methodology and the population, concept and context (PCC) framework. MEDLINE, Embase, ERIC, and CABI Global Health databases will be searched, with no date or language restrictions. Data will be analyzed using quantitative and qualitative methods.

OSF https://osf.io/rgwdb.