Widening participation in medicine: what, why and how?

Abstract

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. Widening Participation (WP) is 'the process of encouraging underrepresented socioeconomic groups to apply for Higher Education'. This is particularly relevant to medicine, where representation of lower socioeconomic groups is generally poor. Reducing this divide is necessary as socioeconomic diversity enhances social mobility and is likely to improve patient outcomes. This review aims to explore the background to WP, including relevant political theory and also highlights the key methods currently used by medical schools to promote WP. These include pre-application measures (outreach and access to medicine courses), application interventions (contextual data, multiple-mini interviews and situational judgement tests) and post-application measures (foundation courses and ongoing support during medical school). The review also discusses the main criticisms of WP. Finally, it offers recommendations for medical schools regarding the implementation of WP initiatives.