It can be a bit awkward to figure out how to best to optimally engage the medical interpreter (MI). Is the MI just the “voice” of the patient? Should they transmit only the verbal aspects? What about the nonverbal aspects of what the patient is saying? For example, if the patient is depressed should the […]
Barriers to Minority Research Participation Among African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islanders
THE IMPORTANCE OF RACIAL and ethnic minority participation in clinical research has been well established including, but not limited to, generalizability of research findings, equity in provision of health care, and accuracy of ethnicity-specific subgroup analyses. Despite a series of national-level initiatives in the past 2 decades from the National Institutes of Health, the Federal Drug […]
Microlecture 003: What to do when patient’s proxy has Limited English Proficiency
When caring for a vulnerable patient who is unable to make health decisions, we rely on the patient’s healthcare proxy to guide us. However, if the proxy has language and communication difficulties it becomes difficult to make health decisions. Watch the microlecture and try to solve the problem of how to provide patient-centered, family-oriented care […]
Microlecture 001: The Two Sentence Rule
When I interact with patients, I am eager to tell them everything they need to know about their health condition, what I am planning to do, what they need to do, and so on. While this is a wonderful thing, when I am dealing with patients with limited health literacy and English fluency, I need […]
Overview of the Stanford Cross Cultural Medicine Microlecture Series
Four and Forty-Two Group Classifications of Languages Spoken at American Homes with Examples (source: US Census) The US population is becoming increasingly diverse. While many Americans speak English, Limited English Proficiency is common in communities of color. Shown below are the most common languages spoken in American homes. Four Group Classification Forty-Two Group Classification Examples […]