Journal of general internal medicine
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Comparative Study
Primary care physicians' attitudes regarding race-based therapies.
There is little to no information on whether race should be considered in the exam room by those who care for and treat patients. How primary care physicians understand the relationship between genes, race and drugs has the potential to influence both individual care and racial and ethnic health disparities. ⋯ Primary care physicians' opinions regarding race-based therapy reveal a nuanced understanding of race-based therapies and a wariness of their use by physicians.
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Training is essential for future health care providers to effectively communicate with limited English proficient (LEP) patients during interpreted encounters. Our aim is to describe an innovative skill-based medical school linguistic competency curriculum and its impact on knowledge and skills. ⋯ Our curriculum increased knowledge and led to skill attainment, each of which showed good durability for a cohort of students evaluated 3 years later. With a growing LEP population, these skills are essential to foster in future health care providers to effectively communicate with LEP patients and reduce health disparities.
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Although health disparities are commonly addressed in preclinical didactic curricula, direct patient care activities with affected communities are more limited. ⋯ Our student-led didactic and experiential elective can serve as an interprofessional curricular model for learning about specific health disparities while providing important services to the local community.
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Clinicians should be educated about how language barriers contribute to disparities for patients with limited English proficiency (LEP). However, educators must avoid developing educational interventions that increase health disparities for LEP patients. ⋯ We discuss the risks and benefits of teaching specific cultural competence skills and make evidence-based recommendations for the teaching content and methods for educational interventions focused on overcoming language barriers in health care. At minimum, we suggest such interventions include: (1) the role of language barriers in health disparities, (2) means of overcoming language barriers, (3) how to work with interpreters, (4) identifying and fixing problems in interpreted encounters, and (5) appropriate and safe use of one's own limited non-English language skills.
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Medical-legal partnerships (MLPs) bring together medical professionals and lawyers to address social causes of health disparities, including access to adequate food, housing and income. ⋯ MLPs train residents, students and other health care providers to tackle socially caused health disparities.