Introduction: Increasing recruitment of students who are Underrepresented in Medicine (UiM) aims to align representation in medical schools to the broader population, but retention and attainment still lag. We aimed to synthesize the literature to honour the stories of UiM medical students, building a deeper understanding of their complex experiences.
Methods: We followed the seven-step process for meta-ethnography, a critical qualitative synthesis that emphasizes richness and depth over comprehensiveness. We developed MEDLINE and Scopus searches and conducted a synthesis through reflexive team and individual processes, cultivating rich data from included studies. Involvement of a librarian, UiM students and graduates, and PhD scientists with diverse lived expertise brought rich insight into the meta-ethnographic process.
Results: We included 37 studies describing the experiences of UiM students: racial/ethnic minorities, those with disabilities, first in family, Indigenous, LGBTQ+, and multiple groups. Synthesis generated four cross-cutting themes: “Working ten times as hard:” highlighting UiM students’ additional labour; “Let me control my tone:” addressing the disciplining of UiM bodies; “I stuck out like a sore thumb:” involving othering, isolation, and visibility; “Sticking together:” exploring coping strategies.
Discussion: Three overarching barriers complicated the stories in the literature: 1. The Disembodied doctor; 2. Impossible professionalism, which creates additional labour for underrepresented medical students in the form of: 3. Hidden work: compensation, masking, and passing. The stories from UiM students disrupt the narrative of a normative, idealized physician identity. Working on this project permitted the librarian to engage with novel methods and a diverse, interdisciplinary team.