“A doctor who really knows …”: a survey of community perspectives on medical students and practitioners with disability

BACKGROUND: In Australia, the proportion of medical students with disability remains low compared to students with disability in other university courses and to the prevalence of disability in society. Arguments for inclusion include medical school obligations to respond to community values in their programs, and that doctors with disabilities can offer valuable insights for patient care from their experiences. This study aimed to inform inclusive and socially accountable medical programs by investigating community views on doctors and medical students with disability. METHODS: A concurrent mixed methods study was conducted, simultaneously collecting quantitative fixed responses, and qualitative free text responses to provide in-depth and triangulated data on community views. Frequency and thematic analysis within and across response categories was used to identify patterns and relationships, providing context and meaning to the quantitative data for the integrated findings. RESULTS: Of 207 respondents aged 17 to 71 years, 71% were female, and 60.2% had university level education. Most (92.3%) knew someone with a long standing disability, illness, mental health condition or learning difficulty, 74.7% agreed that a person with a disability should be encouraged to study medicine, 79.7% agreed that a person with a disability should be accepted into medical school, and 81.4% that including people with disability would be an advantage in the medical profession. Five integrated themes explained these views: 1) Fair selection, support and monitoring is expected of medical schools, 2) Life experiences of disability promotes real empathy in doctors, 3) Career considerations for those with disability, 4) Medical role models to address disabling social barriers, and 5) Responsibility to monitor own health and ability to perform. CONCLUSIONS: This study indicates Australian community support for inclusion of people with disability as medical students and practitioners. Findings also suggest community expectations and trust in medical schools to effectively select and graduate only those who will be capable doctors, and to support health and development of all students towards being competent graduates. These findings provide support for medical schools to develop inclusive practices in medical education and training relevant to the health services and communities they serve. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12909-019-1715-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.