Global Is Local: Does Formal Resident Global Health Medical Education Improve Clinical Care in the United States?

We administered a standardized 41-item questionnaire to a convenience sample of graduates of five residency programs with formal global health pathways and compared findings to a national cohort of practicing physicians to evaluate the comparative effectiveness of an overarching global health pathway on residency program graduates. Compared with the national cohort database, global health pathway graduates self-reported that they felt better prepared to treat immigrants, refugees, patients with limited English proficiency (LEP), racial/ethnic minorities, those with non-Western health beliefs, international travelers, and military veterans (P < 0.05). They were more likely to report using best practices when working with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning patients, immigrant and refugee patients, patients with non-Western health beliefs, patients with LEP, and patients communicating via American Sign Language (P < 0.05). They also reported being more familiar with 11 of 14 high-impact or common infections encountered in travelers, immigrants, and military personnel (P < 0.05). Our findings suggest that formal postgraduate training focused on global health improves knowledge, attitudes, and self-reported medical practices when caring for diverse and marginalized populations in the United States.

The Value and Interpretation of Race and Ethnicity Data in the Era of Global Migration: A Change Is in Order.

Human migration and travel are leading to increasingly diverse populations throughout the world. Data collection practices need to adapt to these changes to expand our understanding of health disparities and to optimize the efforts to address health equity, particularly during public health emergencies such as the current COVID-19 pandemic. Race and ethnicity classifications in the United States have failed to evolve since the 1970s despite an increasingly diverse population. Current commonly collected categories are inadequate to accurately describe the economic, educational, and sociopolitical circumstances of different groups. Further, these categories lend little practical information to inform health policy. More predictive and actionable variables should be routinely collected to improve appropriateness and timeliness of health interventions. The immediate adoption of the collection of primary/preferred language and country of birth/origin by public health organizations, health systems, and clinical providers would be a concrete and valuable first step.

12 Tips for Engaging Medical Students in Health Communications.

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. The proliferation of misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic provides a clear example of the harms that can occur when medical professionals do not engage with the public regarding health topics. To address this need for accessible, accurate medical information, we taught medical students a COVID-19-specific curriculum tailored to sharing this information with the lay public via social media. Through active learning, students developed their understanding of disease-specific pathophysiology, prevention techniques, treatments, and public health interventions while practicing new skills in public communication as health professionals. After two cohorts completed the course, students' high-quality medical information about COVID-19 reached >100,000 viewers. To further broaden the impact, we shared the course curriculum through the Association of American Medical College (AAMC) iCollaborative. This curriculum provides a model for future engagement of medical students in health communication with lay audiences.