Inclusive Language in FLEX – Scenarios

The following scenarios are designed to be realistic, real-world examples of small group interactions. The principles from the Inclusive Language Guide are broadly applicable, and the principle that applies to each scenario has been highlighted.

Inclusive Language Guide: Click here to open the PDF as a reference for use during the discussion. 

Each group has 30 minutes (10 minutes per scenario) to read through and discuss all three scenarios. Groups should assign a scribe or notetaker to summarize the answers to the questions under each scenario and report back to the larger group during the debrief.

SCENARIO 1 – Dark and Rainy

Principle 1: Challenge assumptions and judgments and preserve dignity and autonomy by using appropriate language

 

You are a FLEX Advisor who recently facilitated a small group session with eight first year medical students. You are eager to connect with your group as you only have three small group sessions in person, before the sessions shift to an online format using Zoom. During introductions, one student mentioned that they had just moved to Vancouver for medical school and they found the city to be dark and rainy. You asked them if it was sunny and warm where they grew up, and if they felt cold in Canada. After the session, you are asked to meet with a course leader to discuss a student concern. The course lead lets you know that a student in your group told them that they felt that you made assumptions about another student’s race when you inquired about where they grew up, which made that student and the group feel uncomfortable.

 Questions for discussion:

    • What do you think happened in this situation? What do you think the Advisor intended?
    • How was this received by the student and the group?
    • How could a positive learning environment be restored?
    • How could the Advisor be supported?

SCENARIO 2 – Moms and Dads

Principle 2: Be willing to adapt your language to be inclusive

 

 

In a small group session about qualitative research, focussing specifically on patient-oriented research, there was a clinical scenario that asked students to seek patient input into the planning of a new fertility clinic. When discussing how to recruit patients for a focus group, one student in the group kept referring to “moms and dads” when discussing sampling strategies.

 Questions for discussion:

    • Why could the reference to “moms and dads” be problematic?
    • What is your role as the Advisors in this scenario? Is there a role to speak up? What are the risks of doing so, and the risks of not doing so?  
    • If you speak up, what might you say? How might you reframe this discussion to strengthen group dynamics and create a teachable moment, without “shaming” the student who made the initial remark?

SCENARIO 3 – Cameras On

Principle 5: Be intentional about representing diversity

 

 

 

In the first small group session, as students are introducing themselves, one of the students, Fiona, shares that she is very excited to start medical school and spend time with other students. Fiona discloses that she spent all summer at her family’s cabin and that she felt lonely and isolated from her student peers, but at least she had access to Entrada and all the materials for term 1 through a friend. She was able to study ahead a lot, so she’ll have “plenty of time for all the social activities now that school is finally starting”! 

While Fiona is speaking, you notice that another student, Adam, is looking uncomfortable.  At the end of the session Adam is the last to leave and seems to want to say something. You open a conversation, and it becomes apparent that Adam has been working 60-hour weeks as a waiter to save enough money to pay the rent in a group apartment for the year.  Their internet access isn’t good. “Sometimes I have to sit in Starbucks to get on the internet at all! I feel like I’m already behind, and I don’t know if I will be able to have my camera on when we switch to Zoom.”

Questions for discussion:

    • Who do you see “surviving versus thriving” in our current system of medical education training? Discuss.
    • What might be your approach with Adam?
    • What are your thoughts about about Fiona’s comments? 
    • How can an Advisor support further equity, inclusivity and a sense of belonging for all students within a student group?