New review to diversify healthcare education and training curricula

The NHS Race and Health Observatory, in collaboration with NHS England, has commissioned Canterbury Christ Church University to lead a project with Melanin Medics and other HEI and NHS partners to explore current curricula and resources used across health education and training programmes.

The 12-month project will involve a review of existing approaches to healthcare education, including an assessment of current educational curricula. A key objective of the project is to identify approaches to embed principles of equity in the design and content of healthcare education and training – leading to the tackling of racialised health inequalities.

The research findings will be used to support the implementation of the NHS Educator Workforce Strategy and ensure healthcare professionals, educators, students and clinicians have an improved understanding of diverse communities, the patients they serve and the healthcare challenges they face.

Typically, nursing, medical and other healthcare training and research, curricula are based on approaches with a reliance on research, data, and clinical practices that do not always reflect or represent the diversity of communities across the country.

A lack of ethnic imagery represented in healthcare textbooks and resources as well as the paucity in acknowledging bias in clinical assessments and medical devices is hampering diagnoses of health conditions and leading to widening health disparities between groups.

Evidence shows that in clinical practice, and across healthcare education and training settings, a lack of understanding around bias and specifically racism can impact patient safety and lead to poorer patient experiences and health outcomes.

Professor Habib Naqvi, chief executive, NHS Race and Health Observatory, said: “We know that diversifying healthcare education and training is crucial for improving patient outcomes, promoting workforce engagement, and addressing long-standing health disparities. Evidence has shown, again and again, that a diverse healthcare workforce, equipped with culturally competent training, can better understand and address the unique needs of our patient populations, leading to improved health outcomes and increased patient satisfaction.

“This collaboration with NHS England is key to supporting educators, healthcare students and clinicians in understanding ethnic health inequalities and recognising the importance of fair and inclusive healthcare education and training. This is a fundamental step towards building an NHS that is fit for the future.”

With a large international NHS workforce, the need to understand how healthcare curricula is taught, what it contains, and developing solutions to gaps in tackling disparities, is crucial.

Dr Navina Evans, Chief Workforce, Training and Education Officer, NHS England said: “It’s vital that the tools available for training NHS staff are fit for purpose, and having content and imagery that reflects patient diversity will enable delivery of high-quality training. This will lead to better health care for our patients, especially in underserved communities and help tackle health inequalities.”

The project will also work with healthcare students and community groups to review healthcare education strategies, using co-production methodologies to consider the success of current programmes and to propose innovative solutions to these deep-seated challenges.

John Hammond, co-Principal Investigator and Professor of Interprofessional Practice, said: “This project is extremely important for making healthcare more inclusive. Through this work we hope to shape future healthcare education so that all educators and healthcare practitioners do better for our currently underserved communities.”