How Can I Be the Best Doctor Here and There?

Cultural Awareness and its Value in the Medical Field

How can I shape my academic path to help me become both a culturally empathetic and knowledgeable pediatrician?

One worry that I have going into the medical world is not being culturally empathetic and inclusive. Although I am very accepting individual, I have not had the opportunity to be exposed to many cultures (whether they are religious, social, ethnic etc.).

The best thing about WSP, is that it allows me to acquire the necessary knowledge to prepare me for medical school while still affording me the chance to gain cultural awareness and perspective.

I can work towards answering my question by adding anthropology, sociology and culture courses to my educational design. By taking these classes I will open a door for myself to the explore cultures I have not previously had the chance to study.

Another method by which to learn and answer this question is by shadowing a pediatrician. One my goals for the next few years is to both shadow a local physician and to shadow a doctor from a different country. By comparing the alterations in bedside manner in different cultural settings, I can gain a greater understanding of different cultural perspectives.

Being culturally aware is an invaluable part of being a physician; it contributes to many integral parts of patient doctor interactions, including bedside manner.

Potential Sources:

1. High-Reliability Organizations: Changing the Culture of Care in Two Medical Units
2. Understanding Respect: Learning from Patients
3. Cats, Dogs, and Sweets in the Clinical Negotiation of Reality: On Politeness and Coherence in Pediatric Discourse
4. Information Disclosure and Decision-Making: The Middle East versus the Far East and the West (THIS SOURCE IS ON POINT)
5. Algorithm-Directed Care by Non physician Practitioners in a Pediatric Population Part II: Clinical Outcomes, Patient Satisfaction, and Costs of Care
6. Physician Performance and Its Effects on Patients: A Classification Based on Reports by Internists, Surgeons, Pediatricians, and Obstetricians
7. The Quality of Medical Care
8. General Medical Practice: Some Comparisons between the Work of Primary Care Physicians in the United States and England and Wales
9. The Foreign Experience in Health Service Policy
10. Meeting Minority Health Needs through Special MCH Projects

Useful Search Terms:

1. Medical
2. Doctor
3. Pediatrics
4. Bedside manner
5. Cultures
6. Patient Care
7. Medical Care
8. Minorities
9. Race
10. Diversity

Resources on campus:

1. Professor Vetrone
2. Professor Fradinger

Resources from Twitter:

1. @StanfordMed
2. @HopkinsMedicine