Understanding and addressing the influence of colonialism on obstetrics and gynaecology postgraduate specialty training through participatory action

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This project aims to understand how colonialism ismanifested in educational guidelines that govern Obstetrics& Gynaecology (O&G) education for doctors, how itinfluences the experiences of O&G trainees and trainers,and what changes are needed to improve specialisteducation for doctors, which may lead to more equitablecare for patients in the future.Colonialism has informed how systems and knowledgehave been built and implemented for the past 500 yearsand still has a very tangible effect in today's medicaleducation and patient care and outcomes. In the field ofO&G, being minoritised means being at increased risk ofadverse health outcomes and discrimination. O&G traineedoctors from minoritised backgrounds, and especiallyracially minoritised backgrounds, are more likely to failexams, receive unsatisfactory outcomes during theirAnnual Review of Competency Progression, and experiencediscrimination in training and at work.I will use Critical Discourse Analysis to analyse theguidelines that govern O&G postgraduate specialty trainingfocusing on the power dynamics and potential inequalityembedded within the codified texts produced over time. Iwill interview trainee doctors and trainers to elicit theireducational experience. Based on the analyses of the two, Iwill co-produce a structured recommendation to improvethe equality and fairness in O&G education.As illustrated in the recent Lancet series, racism,xenophobia, and discrimination exist in every modernsociety causing avoidable disease and premature deathamong groups who are often already disadvantaged(Devakumar et al., 2022). One of ways to address thehealth harms caused by these phenomena is to recognise,examine, and undo the legacies of colonialism (Abubakaret al., 2022).