The literature exploring the perspectives and experiences of racialized students in entry-level health professional education programs: a scoping review protocol.

Objective: The objective of this scoping review is to determine the breadth of literature exploring the perspectives and experiences of racialized students in entry-level health professional education programs.

Introduction: Despite the implementation of equity, diversity, and inclusion policies and alternative admission criteria for minority students, racialized minorities continue to be underrepresented and have the highest attrition rate in health professional education programs. Furthermore, the students who eventually work in health care settings report experiences of microaggressions and prejudice. By not exploring the experiences of racialized students in health professional programs, equity, diversity, and inclusion policies and curricula risk becoming irrelevant or performative.

Inclusion criteria: Studies exploring the perspectives and experiences of racism and discrimination, or related concepts, among non-dominant ethno-racial (eg, Indigenous, Black, South Asian, Asian, Hispanic, Pacific Islander), entry-level health professional students will be included. Experimental study designs as well as observational and qualitative studies will also be included.

Methods: The review will be conducted in line with the JBI methodology for scoping reviews. Five databases will be searched, namely, MEDLINE (Ovid), Embase (Ovid), CINAHL (EBSCOhost), ERIC, and Global Health (Ovid), with no limitations on language or year. A gray literature search of relevant websites will also be conducted. Two reviewers will independently screen articles against the inclusion criteria and extract and summarize data. Disagreements will be resolved through discussion or with a third reviewer.

Review registration: Open Science Framework https://osf.io/4bhg6.