Panorama da produção científica sobre racismo nos cursos de graduação em medicina: uma revisão crítica da literatura

Abstract

Medicine has played a central role over the centuries in the construction and consolidation of scientific racism in the Western world. However, significant social transformations and advances in the academic field, especially in contemporary times, have fostered greater visibility for discussions on social justice. In this context, it becomes essential to analyze how medicine is structured and how it responds to emerging demands related to injustice and discrimination, with particular emphasis on racial issues. This study aimed to analyze the landscape of scientific literature addressing racism in undergraduate medical education. Two types of literature reviews were conducted to achieve this objective. The first article was an integrative review, which sought to analyze Brazilian scientific production related to racism in medical school curricula. The databases used for data collection were the Virtual Health Library (BVS), the Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO), and Medline. As a result, twelve articles were identified and analyzed, organized into three thematic categories: experiences of racism in medical education; understanding and appropriation of ethno-racial aspects in healthcare for the Black population; and the relationship between affirmative action and racism in medical training. The second article consisted of a scoping review with the aim of analyzing the broader panorama of scientific publications on racism in undergraduate medical education in both Brazil and the United States. Data collection was carried out using the same databases as in the integrative review. In this stage, twenty-five articles were selected and analyzed according to three main thematic categories: institutional racism in medical education; experiences of racism throughout academic trajectories; and strategies and actions to address racism in the context of medical training. The main findings of both studies revealed a limited body of scientific literature focused on the issue of racism in undergraduate medical education. Nevertheless, the analyzed studies indicated a growing movement toward increased investment in scientific research addressing ethno-racial issues, although such production remains incipient.