The problem with cultural competency in medical education

Education
March 8, 2016

“Let’s say a Chinese patient comes into labor and delivery … simply logs onto the CultureVision website. Next, click on the Chinese section and finally click ‘Labor, Birth and Aftercare.’ Just that quickly you have the information you are looking for.”

CultureVision boasts that it is the “first comprehensive, user-friendly database that gives health care professionals access to culturally competent care.” The website’s automatic slideshow, entitled “Did you Know?” shifts …

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The problem with cultural competency in medical education

The intersection of illness and incarceration: How racism makes us sick

Physician
July 4, 2015

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Despite rates of drug use similar to white counterparts, black men are 11.8 times as likely to be arrested for drug offenses compared to whites. African Americans constitute 14 percent of regular drug users, and yet represent 37 percent of people arrested for drug offenses, 55 percent of drug convictions, and 74 percent of people sent to prison for drug possession. One in Read more…

The intersection of illness and incarceration: How racism makes us sick

Dealing with doubts in medical school

Education
April 22, 2015

For me, hepatitis B booster shots feel pretty much as pleasant as being sucker punched in the arm. You can imagine that it didn’t inspire much elation when I scrolled through my calendar to see, spelled out in big red letters, a reminder for “Hep B #3.”

Now, as I reflect, this reminder feels like a victory of sorts.

When you are told during medical school orientation that you must be reimmunized for …

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Dealing with doubts in medical school

How racism makes us sick: The medical repercussions of segregation

Conditions
April 15, 2015

In medical school, class is scheduled for approximately 30 hours a week. This includes lectures on basic life sciences, histology, anatomy, and clinical examination skills. In addition, my first semester included approximately three hours of classroom time a month devoted to a supplemental curriculum called Health Systems and Policy, which covers the legal aspects of health care, public policy, and, briefly, health disparities. Now, in my second semester, these efforts …

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How racism makes us sick: The medical repercussions of segregation