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Future medical education can definitely integrate the different cultural aspects of treatment and healing (see: link above).
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The educational road points to integral health care systems and allied health science.
Essential in our globalised societies. Specially interesting when it comes to mental health.
Considerations regarding mental health, specially the "line" between normal and pathological varies considerably from one culture to another, as well as nosological classifications, (non)medical treatment and social consequences resulting from an eventual diagnostic. By means of multicultural education we can expand our knowledge and be more tolerant and comprehensive. And for that it is essential to be critic towards the predominant value system and to understand the subjectivity of science.
Smith, T. B., Constantine, M. G., Dunn, T. W., Dinehart, J. M., & Montoya, J. A. (2006). Multicultural education in the mental health professions: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 53(1), 132.
I have been doing research on social entrepreneurs, and among them very accomplished physicians. I found in those excellent medical doctors very strong soft skills like empathy, and also, a strong sense of willingness to understand and appreciate the patient's culture. There is a lot to be done in 1. Teaching Empathy , 2. Teaching cultural sensitivity.
Consideration of cultural aspects is decisive in medical education. For example, I discuss in Cover Page Social Interaction, Globalization and Computer‑Aided Analysis
, p.71 a situation where an elderly patient from Saudi Arabia needs to guide him in rehabilitation exercises and the supervisor of the respected Australian clinic assigns a fairly new female therapist to the task without a prior formal introduction to the patient. However, this attempt fails, and the patient complains about the therapist’s incompetence; the therapist is defeated. Possible explanation: The Arab patient prefers a male therapist for his therapy. Hence, cultural knowledge is necessary to plan rehabilitation exercises with this person.
Dear Alireza Mirzaei. Thank you for your important question. Most universities, particularly those that have changed their medical curricula, are interested in introducing cultural issues. For example, with the introduction of integrated programs and problem-based learning or team-based learning strategies in the design, more attention is given to the cultural aspects of curriculum design. Research in the area of curriculum design and cultural issues has also been on the rise, but definitely, this area is not well researched and studied. In practice, the design of PBL cases should reflect the culture and cultural issues that may affect the health, or the management options are raised for a case discussion. Another example is aboriginal people; migrants and asylum seekers are components in the curriculum design. The revision of the curriculum should also look into cultural issues and best approaches to ensure that the review is matching practical, cultural needs rather than theoretical aspects.
A multicultural medical education sound interesting. Given the unity of humanity, it would seem most appropriate for medical education to reflect this regularity. However, there are a number of important differences that would make the implementation of a universal curriculum in medical education possible. For example, (a) different cultural ethics employ different epistemologies, i.e., empirical vs. holistic, (b) local or cultural research prescriptions versus global or universal regimen, (c) The use of technology such as robots also incorporates moral standards in healthcare (d) religious inspired medical laws and policies, e.g., organ donation and transplantation, euthanasia, abortion and the like.
See:
Topor, F. Sigmund. "The Need for Global Standards in Biomedical Ethics and the Qualitative Methodology." Biomedical Engineering: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications. IGI Global, 2018. 100-127. Web. 8 Aug. 2019. doi:10.4018/978-1-5225-3158-6.ch004
deep gratitude goes to panel of experts for their constructive comments
We often treat people who are different from us in language and culture. Their way of communicating symptoms may be unusual for us. If we do not understand it, we can mistake the diagnosis and the therapy. We must learn offering a multicultural medicine. I believe that an encounter between anthropology and medicine is needed, for a better training in the relationship with patients.
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