• Korean-American Health Beliefs and Practices
• Koreans in the United States
• An Introduction to Korean Culture
  

* For additional Multicultural Health Generalizations, please visit: http://www.med.umich.edu/multicultural/ccp/bmhg.htm

Department of Pediatric Education

The Department of Pediatrics Education has integrated a sociocultural medicine curriculum which focuses on the individual physician, educational infrastructure, and addresses the evolving culture of medical training.  The primary purpose for this project is the urgent need to train physicians to effectively and respectfully deliver medical care to an increasingly diverse pediatric patient population.   

Diversity-focused educational experiences are imbedded within several traditional residency training activities.  During Intern Orientation, residents have a two-hour diversity workshop that includes discussions on 1) the importance of diversity in pediatrics, 2) residents' own social and cultural diversity around the concept of cultural humility and reflective practice, 3) two sociocultural medicine cases, and 4) the sociocultural medicine curriculum residents will be learning over the next three years.

All incoming residents also participate in an Objective Structured Clinical Examination, with one station focusing on communicating health beliefs.  This standardized patient activity provides a baseline for communication skills relating to the impact of culture on health.  As a follow-up assessment, residents complete a standardized patient exercise at the end of their intern year designed to assess the resident's ability to obtain informed consent from a parent with the use of an interpreter.

Other activities include educational conferences, grand rounds, Web-based training modules, and the Morning Report, the latter of which incorporates actual clinical cases from UMHS hospitals and clinics with prominent sociocultural factors are highlighted and discussed.  Factors include issues of race/racism, language barriers, sexuality, cultural norms, alternative medicine, and spirituality.

Residents are often the first contact for pediatric patients and families.  Training residents in sociocultural issues makes them more aware of the importance of assessing and including these beliefs in patient histories and when developing case plans.  Residents are also more cognizant of the need to involve interpreters and cultural brokers in optimizing communication. 

Mott Buckle Up! Program and Safe Kids Washtenaw County (Group Award Winner)
During the event, I met staff from the Japanese Family Health Clinic.  Haruko translated our Buckle Up! flyer into Japanese and with the help of interpreters, we now see many Japanese families at our Mott Buckle Up! appointments.  It is so exciting to reach a new segment of our patient population!

We've also been working with the Maternal Infant Health Program.  They serve a large Spanish speaking population; our Spanish speaking car seat technician has been really busy! 

I just wanted to say thank you for the opportunity - with our award, we purchased safety brochures written in Spanish and have distributed nearly all of them!  The chance to network and combine efforts has been an invaluable experience; our patients have benefited, our program has grown and we are all more aware of the resources in our own backyard! Thank you!

Deborah Anderson, Nutrition Services (Individual Award Winner)
I presented the Pictorial Interactive Menu at the Michigan Dietetic Association's annual conference in May 2006 and I was able to network this idea with those in other health care settings across the state.

Participating in the Cultural Exchange really opened my eyes to the need of addressing multi-cultural health issues in the health setting.  Seeing what others are doing at UMHS was not only informative, it was a very moving human experience to see how everyone is reaching out to others in such caring ways.  The entire experience truly broadened my perspective on what my role is as a care-giver, I think everyone who came to the exchange walked away with the same feeling. 

The most rewarding experience was using the menu I developed with the patient who inspired the idea in the first place.  I'm sure she had no idea why I wiped away a tear or two but it was a very rewarding experience to know how worthwhile the effort was.  Patients and families first, that is what it is all about.