Reflexivity as a tool for medical students to identify and address gender bias in clinical practice: A qualitative study

Highlights

• Doctor’s gender bias interferes with medical care for both men and women.
• Reflective practice in medical education is essential to building student competence.
• Reflexivity is a useful tool to identify and address gender bias in clinical practice.
• An innovative framework combining group discussions and reflection questionnaires.
• A clinically integrated approach to addressing students’ gender bias in medical practice.

Abstract

Objectives

Gender bias interferes with medical care for both men and women, leading to health inequalities. Reflexivity is used in medical education to improve health provision. This study aims to understand if a reflective approach integrated in medical practice enables raising awareness of gender bias during medical school teaching.

Methods

We conducted this study in general ambulatory medicine in Lausanne Hospital, Switzerland with 160 Master’s students. Through group discussions and reflection questionnaires, students were asked to discuss clinical cases they encountered focusing on potential gender bias. We analyzed the data using a thematic analysis approach.

Results

The reflection on the clinical reasoning steps from a real case identified gender bias at each stage of the clinical case management. The analysis revealed two factors that facilitated gender reflexivity: guidance from a gender expert and peer-to-peer exchange.

Conclusions

Our study shows that a reflective approach integrated in medical practice enables raising awareness of gender bias during medical teaching. It provides students with a systematic method they can apply in their future clinical work, thus improving care processes and experiences towards more equitable care.

Practice implications

All gender and medicine curricula should include teaching such as this linking theory and practice through reflexivity.

Keywords

• Gender
• Reflexivity
• Medical education
• Implicit bias
• Communication skills