Opportunities for Cross-Cultural Medical Education
Cross-cultural medical education is a timely topic in undergraduate medical education. The National Institute of Medicine, mandated by Congress, produced a report that examined a wide body of existing medical research and found compelling evidence of health-care disparities between minority and nonminority patients. The increasing awareness on the part of the medical community of the effect of race and ethnicity on health outcomes has provided some of the impetus for mandating the inclusion of cultural diversity and cross-cultural communication in medical education (Flores, 2000; US Bureau of the Census, 1998; Betancourt et al., 2000; Carrillo et al., 1999). The growing use of alternative health practices and complementary medicine among the general population as well as in specific groups also indicates the need for eliciting culturally competent medical histories (Adler and Fosket, 1999). Physicians increasingly encounter patients of diverse racial, ethnic, linguistic, and religious backgrounds, making effective cross-cultural communication skills essential. The need for training in cultural competence has been embraced by the Association of American Medical Colleges and other regulatory and accrediting bodies and is currently a requirement for medical schools. As the United States population becomes more diverse, racially and ethnically, demographic differences between physicians and patients increase, and the medical profession itself becomes more diverse, cross-cultural medical training takes on greater significance.