advertisement
AAP News Vol. 26 No. 2
February 2005, p. 41
CULTURALLY EFFECTIVE PEDIATRIC CARE IN 2005The American Academy of Pediatrics is announcing a policy statement and a related continuing medical education (CME) activity designed to promote the provision of culturally effective pediatric health care.
In December, the Academy published the policy statement, Ensuring
Culturally Effective Pediatric Care: Implications for Education and Health
Policy, which embraces a broad definition of "culture" that
includes the traditional concepts of race and ethnicity, but also extends to
sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, religious beliefs, language,
customs, gender and other distinct attributes
(
Pediatrics. 2004;114
:1677
-1685 The Academy believes that "culturally effective pediatric care" is a more inclusive term than "cultural competence" because it encompasses the values of competence but more importantly focuses on the outcomes of the physician-patient or physician-family interactions. The new policy statement, which can be viewed on the AAP Committee on Pediatric Workforce Web site at www.aap.org/workforce, is based on the conviction that culturally effective health care can be taught and acquired throughout the spectrum of lifelong learning. This concept is reaffirmed in the statement's first recommendation, which calls for education programs tailored to the unique needs of the learner that address one or more cultural attributes. In support of this policy, the Academy will present a program for general practicing pediatricians titled, "The Asian American Patient — Cultural Differences and the Impact on Your Patient Care" at SuperCME 2005 — The Pediatric Practice Experience: Children, Clinicians, Community to be held April 13-16 in Orlando, Fla. Mei Ling Schwartz, M.P.H., director for health and physician education at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, Panorama City, Calif., will address cultural factors and the significant impact that they have on the clinical encounter between health care professionals, their patients and families. In addition, Gilbert Liu, M.D., assistant professor of pediatrics at Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, will lead interactive group sessions on how pediatric practitioners can use office-based strategies and tools for understanding, communicating and caring for patients and families from diverse Asian backgrounds. Visit www.pedialink.org/cmefinder for more details on these culturally effective care offerings as well as the other educational opportunities at SuperCME 2005. The AAP Department of Community Pediatrics continues this focus on culturally effective pediatric care via its Web site at www.aap.org/commpeds/cepc, with additional resources to improve cultural and linguistic capacity among pediatricians to provide culturally effective pediatric care.
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
