Integrating Cultural Competency Across The Curriculum (original) (raw)

A prescription for cultural competence in medical education

Journal of General Internal Medicine, 2006

Cultural competence programs have proliferated in U.S. medical schools in response to increasing national diversity, as well as mandates from accrediting bodies. Although such training programs share common goals of improving physician-patient communication and reducing health disparities, they often differ in their content, emphasis, setting, and duration. Moreover, training in cross-cultural medicine may be absent from students' clinical rotations, when it might be most relevant and memorable. In this article, the authors recommend a number of elements to strengthen cultural competency education in medical schools. This ''prescription for cultural competence'' is intended to promote an active and integrated approach to multicultural issues throughout medical school training.

An Examination of Cultural Competence Training in US Medical Education Guided by the Tool for Assessing Cultural Competence Training

Journal of health disparities research and practice, 2016

In the United States, medical students must demonstrate a standard level of "cultural competence," upon graduation. Cultural competence is most often defined as a set of congruent behaviors, attitudes, and policies that come together in a system, organization, or among professionals that enables effective work in cross-cultural situations. The Association of American Medical Colleges developed the Tool for Assessing Cultural Competence Training (TACCT) to assist schools in developing and evaluating cultural competence curricula to meet these requirements. This review uses the TACCT as a guideline to describe and assess pedagogical approaches to cultural competence training in US medical education and identify content gaps and opportunities for curriculum improvement. A total of 18 programs are assessed. Findings support previous research that cultural competence training can improve the knowledge, attitudes, and skills of medical trainees. However, wide variation in the co...

The Case for Cultural Competence in Health Professions Education

American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 2006

Health profession schools in the United States have to be able to meet the health and pharmaceutical care demands of a rapidly growing racial and multiethnic population. One tactic is to develop and implement or expand existing resources and didactic courses to address cultural competence in the curricula of every college and school of pharmacy. The curriculum should require a focus on the reality of evidence-based health disparities among racial and ethnic minority populations; importance of providing culturally competent care and communication to meet the health needs of diverse patient populations; and exposure to cultural diversity. Students should be grounded in cultural awareness and cultural sensitivity. This article establishes a case for integrating cultural competence into the curricula of health professions schools.

Cultural Competency Interventions During Medical School: a Scoping Review and Narrative Synthesis

Journal of General Internal Medicine, 2019

Many medical accreditation bodies agree that medical students should be trained to care for diverse patient populations. However, the teaching methods that medical schools employ to accomplish this goal vary widely. The purpose of this work is to summarize current cultural competency teaching for medical students and their evaluation methods. A scoping review was completed by searching the databases PubMed, Scopus, MedEdPOR-TAL, and MEDLINE for the search terms "medical education" and "cultural competency" or "cultural competence." Results were summarized using a narrative synthesis technique. One hundred fifty-four articles on cultural competency interventions for medical students were systematically identified from the literature and categorized by teaching methods, length of intervention, and content. Fifty-six articles had a general focus, and ninety-eight articles were focused on specific populations including race/ethnicity, global health, socioeconomic status, language, immigration status, disability, spirituality at the end of life, rurality, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer. About 54% of interventions used lectures as a teaching modality, 45% of the interventions described were mandatory, and 9.7% of interventions were not formally evaluated. The authors advocate for expansion and more rigorous analysis of teaching methods, teaching philosophies, and outcome evaluations with randomized controlled trials that compare the relative effectiveness of general and population-specific cultural competency interventions.

Knowledge of cultural competence among third-year medical students

Journal of the National Medical Association, 2005

An increasingly diverse population and ongoing health disparities have brought national attention to cultural competence training in medical schools. However, few data exist on medical students' knowledge in cultural competence. The purpose of this study is to assess medical students' knowledge in cultural competence to identify training areas for curriculum development. All third-year medical students at a single institution during the period of November 2001 to February 2004 completed a questionnaire to assess their knowledge of cultural competence during their medicine clerkship. The 40-item questionnaire measured several domains of cultural competence: health disparities, stereotyping, exploring culture, perceptions of health and illness, and communication/language. The mean knowledge score was 55%, and no student scored >80%. Race and prior cultural training were not predictors of overall performance.

An assessment of cultural competence of first- and second-year medical students at a historically diverse medical school

American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 2006

Medical student Cultural competency Hispanic health knowledge Objective: The purpose of this study was to measure knowledge of cultural variations of health beliefs and practices, especially among Hispanic patients, in a population of medical students at a historically black medical college. Study design: The modified clinical culture competency questionnaire tapped demographic, selfperceived knowledge, skills, encounter-situations, attitudes, education, and training of medical students. The survey was administered on a course management system. The Hispanic health knowledge questionnaire measured student knowledge of Hispanic culture. Results: The response rate was 51%. No significant gender or racial differences were noted. Firstyear medical students were more skilled in managing sociocultural issues (40.07 vs 33.70; P = .0089) and less skilled in education and training (1.35 vs 0.57; P = .0222) than second-year students. All students scored below the 60th percentile on the Hispanic health knowledge questionnaire. Conclusion: These data point to the importance of cultural competency training in Hispanic health and may be used to develop an educational intervention to better address the health care needs of the local Hispanic population.

Racial Dynamics and Cultural Competence Training in Medical and Pharmacy Education

Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 2017

Using the Self-Assessment of Perceived Level of Cultural Competence (SAPLCC) questionnaire, frequencies, means, and ANOVAS were determined to create medical and pharmacy student profi les of cultural competence. Profi les were used to identify needs for training and underscore critical issues that should be given priority in the curriculum. Signifi cant diff erences were found in several domains of cultural competence (knowledge, skills, attitudes, and abilities); they may be explained by diff erences in the implementation of a pilot curriculum, the racial composition of students in both programs, and other characteristics. However, in the awareness domain, the main diff erences found may be explained only by respondents' attitudes and their personal experiences. Results confi rm the importance of examining the racial dynamics factor and the need to address this sensitive topic early in the academic programs so students are prepared more fully to have sincere and meaningful encounters with their patients during the clinical years and as health care providers.