Navigating medical school with autism: a systematic review exploring student experiences & support provision in the United Kingdom

This publication is included in the Autistic Autism Scholarship Project. The publication reports five autistic authors, without identifying them by name.

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Aitken, D., Hodge, G., Page, M., Lastmann, E., Hiller, S., & George, R. E. (2025). Navigating medical school with autism: a systematic review exploring student experiences & support provision in the United Kingdom. BMC Medical Education, 25(1), 927-927. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-025-06866-9

Publication date: 1 Jul 2025 Added to AutiHub: 17 Sep 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
Publisher source (DOI) Full text OpenAlex source

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Authors

Publication authors
6
Autistic authors reported by the publication
5
  1. Debbie Aitken
  2. Grace Hodge *
  3. Michael Page
  1. Ella Lastmann
  2. Sebastian Hiller
  3. Riya E. George

Abstract

Abstract Background Medical education is inherently demanding, requiring students to navigate academically challenging courses, high-stake assessments, clinical training and interpersonal interactions within high stress environments. Autistic medical students can experience profound differences academically and professionally if their support needs are not identified and addressed by specific pedagogic adaptations. This systematic review aims to explore the experiences and support provision for autistic undergraduate medical students in the United Kingdom, through a critical interpretive review of the literature. Method The search strategy involved the use of 6 electronic databases, supplemented by citation tracking, consultation with academic experts and library searches. Of 400 papers, 6 satisfied the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Critical interpretive synthesis (CIS) was used to analyse these papers. The study design assimilated methods adopted in conventional systematic reviews within the format of CIS, to combine the entire body of literature and generate theoretical categories. Results Three synthetic constructs (overarching themes) were produced from the analysis; ‘reassessing prevailing narratives on autism’, ‘navigation differences’ and the ‘absence of meaningful support provision’. Together these constructs generated a theoretical framework (‘synthesising argument’) defined as ‘reframing support for success’ for autistic and neurodiverse medical students, which collectively explained the findings of the review. ‘Reframing support for success’ provided an explanation for the inconsistencies in understanding the lived experiences of autistic medical students and the required adjustments and support provision. It illustrated the distinct challenges experienced by autistic students in navigating medical school as well the necessity to acknowledge the unique strengths autistic medical students bring. Conclusion The review calls for enhanced awareness and training within medical schools to foster an inclusive environment that accommodates neurodiversity more broadly. It advocates for legislative compliance and change in offering reasonable adjustments and stresses the potential benefits of viewing autistic traits as strengths in medical practice.

Bibliography cited by this reference

Cited references are imported from external metadata sources when they are available. The list may be partial.

Cited bibliography overview

These indicators describe the bibliography cited by this publication. An author name is counted each time it appears in one cited reference, so the same person can be counted more than once. Names not yet linked to an author already present in AutiHub are treated as unknown, not as non-autistic. Last computed: 19 Sep 2026 01:01.

Cited references
43
With a DOI
29
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
12
8 / 43 (18.6%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
8 / 43 (18.6%)
References with detected author names
40 / 43 (93.0%)
Without detected author names
3
Without a structured title
8
Without a stable identifier
11
References with raw author names still to review
3
References with external metadata lookup issues
0
These indicators apply to cited references displayed on this page, after technical duplicates have been merged. A reference without a DOI can still support author statistics when a title and author names are available.
Author names detected in the cited bibliography
114
From DOI or external metadata
114
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
3
44 / 114 (38.6%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 70 / 114 (61.4%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
23 / 114 (20.2%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 23 / 44 (52.3%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 7 / 95 (7.4%).
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