Presidential Memo:
FROM: Darrell G. Kirch, M.D., President and CEO
SUBJECT: Cultural Competence Education for Students in Medicine and Public Health
I am pleased to share the Cultural Competence Education for Students in Medicine and Public Health report, the result of an expert panel of physician and public health educators, jointly convened by the AAMC and the Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH). The report is designed to offer foundational guidance and includes embedded links to background materials, supporting resources, and examples that can be adapted for instructional use.
Recognizing the interdependence of medicine and public health is vital to addressing health management and improvement at the individual, community, and population levels. Though it may be intuitive to some, explicit partnering helps align the common purpose of ensuring the health of the public, particularly in serving health needs through community health centers and neighborhood clinics, and increased activity in community-based participatory research collaboration. Toward that end, graduating culturally competent practitioners will prepare our workforce to address health in the context in which it is experienced by the patient and their families.
For general purposes, the competencies/learning objectives are organized by knowledge, skill, and attitude categories. Included as an appendix item, the medicine and public health cultural competencies are mapped to the six general domains adopted by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. Though content proposed in this report can be found in both the accreditation language and educational literature of medicine and public health, the competencies articulated are meant to offer emphasis to the nexus shared by the two disciplines.
The AAMC will be issuing a joint press release with ASPH, and distributing the report to a targeted group of health equity stakeholders to underscore the importance of improving cultural competencies in medical and public health education.
This most recent report with our colleagues at ASPH represents the third such collaboration with health profession partners to identify common educational goals and outcomes. The first collaborative report is Contemporary Issues in Medicine: Oral Health Education for Medical and Dental Students, produced in conjunction with the American Dental Education Association. A second report, Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice, is the combined effort of the Interprofessional Education Collaborative, a partnership of the AAMC and five other education associations representing the disciplines of medicine, nursing, dentistry, pharmacy, and public health.
Please direct comments or questions about the report to Alexis L. Ruffin, director, Medical Education, at [email protected] or 202-828-0439.
FROM: Darrell G. Kirch, M.D., President and CEO
SUBJECT: Cultural Competence Education for Students in Medicine and Public Health
I am pleased to share the Cultural Competence Education for Students in Medicine and Public Health report, the result of an expert panel of physician and public health educators, jointly convened by the AAMC and the Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH). The report is designed to offer foundational guidance and includes embedded links to background materials, supporting resources, and examples that can be adapted for instructional use.
Recognizing the interdependence of medicine and public health is vital to addressing health management and improvement at the individual, community, and population levels. Though it may be intuitive to some, explicit partnering helps align the common purpose of ensuring the health of the public, particularly in serving health needs through community health centers and neighborhood clinics, and increased activity in community-based participatory research collaboration. Toward that end, graduating culturally competent practitioners will prepare our workforce to address health in the context in which it is experienced by the patient and their families.
For general purposes, the competencies/learning objectives are organized by knowledge, skill, and attitude categories. Included as an appendix item, the medicine and public health cultural competencies are mapped to the six general domains adopted by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. Though content proposed in this report can be found in both the accreditation language and educational literature of medicine and public health, the competencies articulated are meant to offer emphasis to the nexus shared by the two disciplines.
The AAMC will be issuing a joint press release with ASPH, and distributing the report to a targeted group of health equity stakeholders to underscore the importance of improving cultural competencies in medical and public health education.
This most recent report with our colleagues at ASPH represents the third such collaboration with health profession partners to identify common educational goals and outcomes. The first collaborative report is Contemporary Issues in Medicine: Oral Health Education for Medical and Dental Students, produced in conjunction with the American Dental Education Association. A second report, Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice, is the combined effort of the Interprofessional Education Collaborative, a partnership of the AAMC and five other education associations representing the disciplines of medicine, nursing, dentistry, pharmacy, and public health.
Please direct comments or questions about the report to Alexis L. Ruffin, director, Medical Education, at [email protected] or 202-828-0439.
AAMC Presidential Memorandum.pdf |