ArticlePerspectives on medical education2025
Barriers and Facilitators in the Admission of Underrepresented Groups to Medical School: A Scoping Review.
Article in Perspectives on medical education, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- From class consciousness to class suicide: considering community integration as a primary care ethic.Family medicine and community health · 2026Article
- Student background, admission routes, and academic success: a structural mediation analysis.BMC medical education · 2026Article
- Rural admission quota in Germany: students' attitudes, challenges and the need for support programmes.BMC medical education · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Introduction: Lack of diversity in the healthcare workforce harms patient care and outcomes, driving calls for more inclusive medical education. Physicians from disadvantaged backgrounds often serve underserved areas, and diversity improves cultural competence and trust. However, admissions still favour higher socioeconomic applicants, with barriers like standardized exams limiting access for underrepresented groups. This review examined barriers and enablers to medical school access for underrepresented groups, aiming to inform fairer admissions practices. Methods: A scoping review was conducted using Arksey and O'Malley framework to map literature on barriers and facilitators to medical school access for applicants from migration backgrounds and low socioeconomic status. A comprehensive search of PubMed, ERIC, and Google Scholar (Nov 2024-Apr 2025) included studies in five languages published in the past 10 years. Data were extracted in early 2025 and thematically analyzed using Braun and Clarke's method. Results: Underrepresented groups face structural, institutional, economic, social and psychological barriers to medical school entry. Key challenges included financial hardship, inadequate academic support, lack of social capital, exclusionary institutional practices and psychological factors. However, targeted interventions - such as pipeline and outreach programs emphasizing mentorship and support networks - can help mitigate these barriers. Conclusion: Despite ongoing efforts to widen participation, underrepresented groups continued to face complex, intersecting barriers to medical school admission. Addressing these challenges required more than general policy initiatives - it called for intentional, community-based approaches tailored to students' specific needs. This review highlighted the need for sustained, systemic change alongside targeted support strategies.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.