More than half of Australia’s First Nation trainee doctors and a third of international medical graduates have experienced racism from patient and colleagues.
Australian Medical Association (AMA) President Professor Steve Robson said the latest National Medical Training Survey showed 54 percent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander trainee doctors reported having experienced or witnessed bullying, discrimination and harassment, including racism, compared with 21 percent of all trainees nationally.
Professor Robson said the research also found that international medical graduates (IMGs) frequently reported high levels of racism, discrimination and prejudice from patients and colleagues, including microaggressions.
He said more than one third (37 percent) of IMGs reported experiencing racial or ethnic discrimination from patients in the past five years, compared with less than one fifth (17 percent) of Australian medical graduates (AMGs) and more than one quarter (26 percent) reported experiences of racial or ethnic discrimination from colleagues.
“Racist behaviour was directed at doctors from second or third generation migrant families even though they were born and have grown up in Australia,” he said.
Professor Robson it was distressing to hear about the racism being experienced by doctors in Australia.
“Racism, which is unacceptable in all its forms, can have terrible impacts on individuals, families and communities.”
He said everyone in the healthcare system, including leaders, needed to take responsibility for tackling racism and ensuring systems were in place to deal with racism in a culturally safe way.
“Cultural safety and racial equity must be embedded in governance and leadership processes and should be guided and led by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and other culturally and racially marginalised people.”
Professor Robson said the AMA had released an Anti-racism position paper to raise awareness of the issue.
