Paper short abstract:

Echoing advocacy that proposed cultural and structural competency, this paper introduces the teaching course "Walking Classroom” in rural internships for medical students and discusses the ways of enhancing students' awareness of health inequality and decolonizing medical education in Taiwan.

Paper long abstract:

This paper introduces a novel teaching approach, the "walking classroom," implemented during rural healthcare internships for medical students. Anthropology has been overlooked in Taiwan's medical education for historical reasons, but suggests that innovative teaching methods can effectively reintroduce anthropological thinking into clinical training. This paper explores the potential integration of anthropological concepts into medical education through innovative methods. While anthropology played a crucial role in Taiwanese medical education during the Japanese colonial period, its significance declined with the rise of biomedical sciences over the past century. The post-pandemic era has witnessed a renewed emphasis on social sciences in healthcare education, prompting a shift in medical education evaluations towards prioritizing medical humanities courses in Taiwan. Despite this shift, there is a need for consensus among educational practitioners regarding understanding medical humanities education.

Recent advocacy has proposed cultural and structural competency concepts to enhance healthcare professionals' understanding of how social, historical, and cultural factors impact health, serving as a gateway for medical humanities education. However, the integration of anthropology into the curriculum needs to be improved due to limited course structures. The paper details a one-year "walking classroom" program immersing medical students in indigenous communities, utilizing photovoice for guided anthropological observations. Addressing pronounced health inequality in remote areas of Taiwan, the programme aligns with the "Indigenous Health Act" to enhance students' cultural sensitivity. Through the descriptive expressions of students' photovoice practices, this paper further discusses the possibility of enhancing students' structural competency and decolonization of medical education.