The Right Thing to Do, The Smart Thing to Do Enhancing Diversity in the Health Professions -- Summary of the Symposium on Diversity in Health Professions in Honor of Herbert W. Nickens, M.D. (2001) / Chapter Skim
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The Role of Diversity in the Training of Health Professionals
The Role of Diversity in the Training of Health Professionals
Pages 36-56
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From page 36... ...
Social scientists and policy scholars have noted this need (Alger, 1998; Orfield, 1998; 1999) , observing that after Bakice, "affirmative action was hanging by a thread" and ~nstead of providing solid evidence about the benefits of diversity, academic researchers gave greatest attention to "examining the problems that minority students were experiencing on campuses that were racially diverse." Because the benefits of diversity appeared obvious, higher education- and for the most part health professions education- was focused on recruitment, retention, and a full range of ways to encourage diversity (Orfield, 2001; Orfield & Whitla, 2001; Cavazos, 2001; Ready, 2001~.
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From page 37... ...
While the science disciplines prepare students in areas that directly tie to our health professions curriculum, it can be argued that the social sciences enhance and shape orientations that lead to civic engagement and the building of community or social capital.
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From page 38... ...
On closer analysis, Bowen and Bok reported that black graduates from the selective schools were slightly more likely than white graduates to earn degrees in law and medicine. And when compared with the general college population, black graduates were seven times more likely to gain degrees in law and five times more likely in medicine.
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From page 39... ...
Briefly stated, Gurin's research shows that students with diversity experiences during college become more active and thoughtful learners and are better prepared to participate in a heterogeneous society. With existing survey data from three different investigations, Gurin examined the impact of student racial and ethnic diversity on educational outcomes.
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From page 40... ...
Structural diversity serves as the foundation or starting point but cannot, in isolation from classroom and interactional diversity, ensure that a more complete academic and social experience will occur that will contribute to the student's overall development. The core purpose of the work was to determine the effect of diversity on the following outcome measures: learning outcomes measured by growth in intellectual and academic skill; engagement in active thinking processes; growth in intellectual engagement and motivation; and democracy outcomes, such as the preparation of students for meaningful participation in a pluralistic society.
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From page 41... ...
For white graduates, both classroom diversity and informal interaction diversity in college were positively associated with having discussed racial/ethnic issues and having socialized with someone of another racial/ethnic group. Informal interaction diversity was associated with feeling that their undergraduate education prepared them for their current job.
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From page 42... ...
In Diversity Challenged: Evidence on the Impact of Affirmative Action, a number of authors add to the growing body of evidence about the positive impact of increasing diversity in student enrollment in higher education. From policy analyses and social science and educational data, a number of similar positive outcomes are addressed, including broadened educational experience, democracy outcomes, and enhanced preparation for graduate study in the professions.
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From page 43... ...
Instead, cultural pluralism and cultural identity are positive elements that contribute to equally positive outcomes based on diversity in the classroom and curriculum. Diversity brings the benefit of intellectual and social growth, trust, and enriched cultural experience and understand~ng, with renewed meaning for a wide range of social and higher education policy (ACE/AAUP, 2000; Palmer, 2001~.
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From page 44... ...
Assume for purposes of this discussion that there is a match for high level diversity experiences between the schools students come from as undergraduates and those they go to for health professions school, be it medicine, dentistry, nursing, or pharmacy. Imagine how rich and lively the discussions would be in classrooms and in clinical seminars.
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From page 45... ...
With incomplete or weak diversity along the dimensions studied in the work of Gurin and others, do health professions schools attenuate, or even squander, the investment made at the undergraduate level? DIVERSITY, SOCIAL CAPITAL, AND TRUST There is a substantial and poignant literature on health disparities and the positive contributions that are made by increasing diversity in the health professions (Nickers, 1992; Diez-Roux, 1998; Nickens & Ready, 1999; Yen & Syme, 1999; Berkman & Kawachi, 2000; Fiscella, et al., 2000; Stoddard, Back, & Brotherton, 2000; Carlisle, Tisnado, & Kington, 2001~.
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From page 46... ...
If diversity experiences can build social capital, then by definition diversity experiences are building trust. Building the trustworthiness of our health professions and institutions has great potential to increase the health and well-being of individuals and communities, thus extending the benefit of diversity in health professions.
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From page 47... ...
Increased attention is also being given to language needs in the clinical encounter as well as to linguistic competence (AMA, 1999; Goode et al., 2000~. Among the health professions there are a number of opportunities for gaining experience and the skills needed for cultural competence.
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From page 48... ...
Social Epidemiology and Clinical Social Work. There are two disciplines crucial to providing a more complete education for our health professions students along the dimension of cultural competence social epidemiology and clinical social work.
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Just as social epidemiology provides a framework for understanding health and illness in a social context, clinical social work provides a framework for clinical interactions that are sensitive to social conditions and context. From adaptations of clinical social work practice, we know that health professions students can be exposed to a number of constructs critical to working with people in their social environments (Grover-Reed et al., 1997; Ewalt et al., 1999~.
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When used with discipline knowledge represented by social epidemiology and the other process skills from clinical social work, such as critical consciousness, a
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252~. Within the context of the Nickens Symposium, this passage carries an urgency and poignancy for the benefits of diversity in health professions education.
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As the data emerge on the benefits of diversity in health professions education, it will be important to synthesize and disseminate the information widely. Where efforts are started on these studies, they should be continued; and in the places where efforts are needed, they should be programmatically defined and supported Trough start-up Finding.
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From page 53... ...
Symposium on Diversity in the Health Professions in Honor of Herbert W Nickens, M.D.
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Georgetown University Child Development Center-National Center for Cultural Competence, Policy Brief 2. Washington, DC: Georgetown University.
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(1998~. Service-learning: Community-campus partnerships for health professions education.
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From page 56... ...
(2000~. The respective racial and ethnic diversity of U.S.
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