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Cross-Cultural Primary Care: A Patient-Based Approach
- J. Emilio Carrillo, MD, MPH;
- Alexander R. Green, MD; and
- Joseph R. Betancourt, MD, MPH
Abstract
In today's multicultural society, assuring quality health care for all persons requires that physicians understand how each patient's sociocultural background affects his or her health beliefs and behaviors. Cross-cultural curricula have been developed to address these issues but are not widely used in medical education. Many curricula take a categorical and potentially stereotypic approach to “cultural competence” that weds patients of certain cultures to a set of specific, unifying characteristics. In addition, curricula frequently overlook the importance of social factors on the cross-cultural encounter. This paper discusses a patient-based cross-cultural curriculum for residents and medical students that teaches a framework for analysis of the individual patient's social context and cultural health beliefs and behaviors. The curriculum consists of five thematic units taught in four 2-hour sessions. The goal is to help physicians avoid cultural generalizations while improving their ability to understand, communicate with, and care for patients from diverse backgrounds.
- Cultural diversity
- Quality of health care
- Physician-patient relations
- Knowledge, attitudes, practice
- Socioeconomic factors
Article and Author Information
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Acknowledgments: The authors thank Drs. Leon Eisenberg and Arthur Kleinman for their seminal work in this field and the comments and support they have provided; Dr. Richard Levins and the late Dr. Norman Zinnberg for their teachings on the social environment and the importance of the social construct in patient care; Dr. B. Robert Meyer for providing time and support for the implementation of the curriculum at Cornell Internal Medicine Associates; and Professional Actors Training and Helping (PATH) for their important role in our curriculum.
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Requests for Reprints: J. Emilio Carrillo, MD, MPH, New York Presbyterian Hospital-Cornell Internal Medicine Associates, 505 East 70th Street, HT4, New York, NY 10021.
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Current Author Addresses: Drs. Carrillo, Green, and Betancourt: New York Presbyterian Hospital-Cornell Internal Medicine Associates, 505 East 70th Street, HT4, New York, NY 10021.
- Copyright ©2004 by the American College of Physicians
