Social inclusion and medical practitioners

Medical practitioners, regardless of their roles or career paths, should understand social inclusion and exclusion and their effects on health and health risk factors, health-care accessibility, treatments and health promotion. Social inclusion is both a treatment and a therapeutic goal in health. This chapter discusses the relevance of social inclusion to medical practitioners, ways that social inclusion can be improved, and how medical education can prepare students and trainees to practice socially inclusive care. Medical practitioners have an important role in ensuring that health services are inclusive and welcoming for all people, given that socially excluded individual and groups are also the most likely to be excluded from needed health care. Strategies medical practitioners can use to promote social inclusion for their patients include utilizing team care, addressing patient social support needs as well as medical issues, social prescribing, and linking with community services and organizations. The importance of social accountability in medical education is well recognized. A whole of medical school or residency training mission can address health and social inequities in the communities which they serve through teaching, research, and service delivery. Strategies include leadership, inclusive staffing and student selection, embedding an equity lens into medical curricula and assessment, and ensuring dedicated time for learning related to social inclusion which includes experiential learning.