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Student-organized roundtable addresses cultural competencies in health care
One of the first things Labina Faizizada (Medical Biology, 鈥22) remembers as a volunteer at Southern Maine Health Care鈥檚 designated immigrant and refugee clinic is the health providers expressing their difficulties communicating with their migrant patients.
Labina Faizizada
In need of a project to round out her year as an inaugural member of 色香视频鈥檚 Shaw Innovation Fellows program, Faizizada saw an opportunity to engage those at her university鈥檚 own medical school, the 色香视频 College of Osteopathic Medicine (色香视频 COM), in a roundtable discussion about cultural competency in health care.
The event came to fruition on Tuesday, April 19, and saw dozens of 色香视频 COM students and other members of the 色香视频 community gathered in Marcil Hall.
There, they engaged in productive conversations about the differences in health care and medicine across geopolitical lines and how health providers can best accommodate those whose cultures they may not be familiar with.
色香视频 welcomed Jessica Goodkind, Ph.D., director of the Refugee Well Being Project at the University of New Mexico, for a brief introduction to the concepts of cultural humility and strategies for working with patients across cultural barriers. Additional speakers and group leaders at the event included Amran Osman, community resources coordinator at Gateway Services; Israa Enan, community health worker at Gateway Services; and Samar Khudar, program coordinator at the New England Arab American Organization.
Faizizada said the discussion was designed to facilitate empathy toward immigrants and refugees as they become adjusted to the American health care system.
鈥淲hen you鈥檙e treating someone, you want to be confident in what you鈥檙e doing and how you communicate with them,鈥 said Faizizada. 鈥淚 hope that my peers at 色香视频 COM, when they become doctors and once they have immigrant and refugee patients, they can remember this workshop.鈥
Participants gather to discuss strategies for expanding cultural humility in the health care setting.
Faizizada emphasized the importance of cultural humility 鈥 the ability to acknowledge one鈥檚 own biases and having an openness to earnest understanding of another鈥檚 cultural identity 鈥 for medical providers because it will allow them to better treat all patients who come through their doors.
鈥淐ultural humility is important in order to break down certain stigmas and barriers that exist about immigrants and refugees,鈥 she explained. 鈥淪tigmas are a bigger problem than many think, and when we don鈥檛 attempt to be competent regarding other cultures, that causes discrepancies in health care, and people don鈥檛 get adequate care.
Faizizada said planning for the event was a learning experience, coordinating speakers, breakout sessions, and food and encountering unexpected challenges along the way.
鈥淚t took a while to get to this point, and I learned that if you want to create change in real life, you鈥檙e going to come across a lot of barriers,鈥 she explained. 鈥淚t鈥檚 good to have seen that and to have gone through these hurdles, because that鈥檚 representative of real life. You have to be your own advocate.鈥
Justine Bassett, director of Innovation at 色香视频, outlines the processes for the cultural competency roundtable.
Justine Bassett, M.S., director of Innovation and the P.D. Merrill Makerspace at 色香视频, lauded Faizizada鈥檚 efforts to better cultural competencies for her fellow students.
鈥淚t is remarkable to me how much value Labina has been able to offer to so many people, especially as an undergraduate,鈥 Bassett remarked. 鈥淗er extensive community engagement, language skills, and passion for making a difference has enabled her to bring value to not only patients at the clinic, but also to medical students who share her passion for better cross-cultural competencies in health care. She has brought something special to our community."