Core Competencies
At the end of medical school, students should be able to:

• Explain the concept of culture and how cultural beliefs influence an individual ’s approach to health, illness and treatment.
• Recognize personal and professional tendencies toward bias and stereotyping.
• Discuss racial and ethnic disparities in health diagnosis and treatment of diseases.
• Describe common cultural models of health and illness in your community.
• Elicit a patient’s health beliefs/explanatory model about a particular illness episode.
• Assess the need for interpreters in the clinical setting.
• Describe methods to effectively interact with an interpreter in a clinical setting.

Core Content Areas Related to Objectives
What is culture and how does it influence an individual’s approach to health, illness and treatment.
Learning resources:

• Doctoring Curriculum I lecture and video presentation
• Medical Missions Elective
  

Bias, stereotyping and the need for self-awareness
Learning resources:

• Matriculation orientation diversity training
• Doctoring Curriculum I reading assignments
• Foundations of Clinical Medicine cases
• Medical Missions Elective

Racial and ethnic disparities in health
Learning resources:

Foundations of Clinical Medicine cases

Cultural models of health and illness
Learning resources:

• Doctoring Curriculum I lecture and video presentation
• Doctoring Curriculum I Behavioral Sciences in Medical Practice problem based learning cases
• Family and Rural Medicine clerkship problem-based learning cases
• Family and Rural Medicine clerkship home visit assignment
• Foundations of Clinical Medicine cases
• Senior Psychiatry clerkship lectures
• Medical Missions Elective

Culturally sensitive interviewing techniques and eliciting patients’ health beliefs
Learning resources:

• Doctoring Curriculum I and II readings and standardized patient interviews
• Family and Rural Medicine clerkship problem-based learning cases and teaching objective structured clinical examination
• Clinical experiences in third and fourth year clerkships
• Medical Missions Elective

Using interpreters in the clinical setting
Learning resources:

• Doctoring Curriculum I PBL case
• Foundations in Clinical Medicine cases
• Clinical experiences in third and fourth year clerkships
• Medical Missions Elective