Conference Coverage

Physicians discuss bringing cultural humility to medicine


 

REPORTING FROM INTERNAL MEDICINE 2019

Horace DeLisser, MD, and Elisabeth Poorman, MD, described some of the work they have done to provide health care in communities challenged by the social determinants of health, during a panel discussion moderated by Sarah Candler, MD, an internist in Houston.

Dr. Candler, former chair, Council of Resident and Fellow Members, Board of Regents, American College of Physicians, began the discussion by asking Dr. DeLisser, to describe his role in teaching medical students about the social determinants of health, at the annual Internal Medicine meeting of the ACP.

Dr. DeLisser, associate dean for professionalism and humanism at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, said he focuses on a number of issues, including social medicine, cultural competency, and cultural humility.

“We look at health care disparities and try to do a lot of innovation around service learning that will bring our students into the community, one to learn about these determinants but more importantly to be able to see how these issues can be addressed both on a provider level but also on a more structural systemic level,” he noted.

Dr. Poorman, an internist at the University of Washington, later discussed the importance of practicing cultural humility as it related to her experience providing care to migrant workers while she was a medical school student.

Dr. Candler, an internist in Houston, concluded the discussion by describing some of the ACP’s newest resources designed to address the social determinants of health for specific groups of patients.

The full panel discussion was recorded as a video.

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