Remaining Relevant in a Different Clinical Culture

For some our patient panels are somewhat homogenous. However, the culture at large that surrounds us is diversifying at a pace we have never experienced before. Having greater cultural competence will lead to an improvement in care. Understanding that future physician need to be better equipped for this changing landscape is an understatement. There will need to be a collective effort from medical institutions, residency programs, physicians in active practice, and medical recruiters. Students and residents are more likely to return to the areas in which they have grown-up or trained. Targeting high performing students in these medically deprived areas is the only way we can truly cause lasting progressive change.

Learning Objectives:

• To discuss the importance of maintaining our relevance in the community
• Evaluate how our unconscious biases can affect our clinical decision
• Understanding the landscape that you are practicing in
• Review the current recruiting methods utilized to osteopathic and allopathic medical schools
• Compare the trends seen throughout the years in medical school acceptance
• Present the need for a deeper understanding of the importance of having a diverse medical school population
• Summarize factors that prohibit diversity in medicine
• Describe how we can make a case for change