Biomedical subjects

Warren J Ferguson

Publications and source records attributed to Warren J Ferguson.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2003

Community preceptors' views of their identities as teachers.

PURPOSE: Community physicians are increasingly being recruited to teach medical students and residents, yet there has been little research about how they think of themselves as teachers or what factors contribute to "teacher identity." Physicians who think of themselves as teachers may be more likely to enjoy teaching, to teach more, and to be recognized by students and other faculty as good teachers. Identifying factors that enhance teacher identity may be helpful for the recruitment and retention of high-quality community faculty. METHOD: Thirty-five experienced community preceptors were audiotaped in five structured focus groups in April 2001, answering a series of questions about their teacher identity. Responses were qualitatively analyzed for evidence of themes. RESULTS: "Feeling intrinsic satisfaction" was the most common theme that emerged from the tapes. Preceptors also identified that "having knowledge and skill about teaching" and "belonging to a group of teacher" enhanced their roles as teachers. "Being a physician means being a teacher," "feeling a responsibility to teach medicine," and "sharing clinical expertise" also emerged as important themes. Although a group of participants were interested in "receiving rewards for teaching," rewards did not need to be financial compensation. For some, genuine recognition for their efforts by the medical school, particularly in the form of faculty development opportunities, constituted reward and recognition for teaching. CONCLUSIONS: Community physicians described a variety of factors that contribute to their identity as teachers. Faculty development programs offer opportunities to strengthen teacher identity and foster relationships between teaching programs and community-based faculty.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

Developing culturally competent community faculty: a model program.

The Liaison Committee on Medical Education recently set standards for cultural diversity training as part of the medical school curriculum. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first description of a faculty-development program designed to develop the capacity of the clinical faculty to integrate culture and advocacy education into clinical training. The paper describes the first two years of the development of an ongoing cultural competence curriculum that has been integrated into the training of community preceptors from 13 medical schools in New England and New York. The training, entitled"Teaching the Culture of the Community," consists of four 2.5-hour modules that include interactive lectures and small-group role-play exercises on cultural needs assessment, patient-centered interviewing, feedback on cultural issues and use of the community to enhance cultural understanding. The 137 participants in the first two years of the program (1999-00 and 2000-01) reported a high level of acceptance of the curriculum. In the second year, the program began to document participants' self-reported"intention to change" in relation to the cultural competence curriculum. Many participants reported plans to change aspects of their clinical care and their teaching practices. Intentions to change were most frequently expressed in the context of content on effective communication skills. In summary, cultural competency training has been successfully integrated into an existing faculty-development program for community-based preceptors.

Clinical Competence↗

PubMed2002

Culture, language, and the doctor-patient relationship.

BACKGROUND: This review's goal was to determine how differences between physicians and patients in race, ethnicity and language influence the quality of the physician-patient relationship. METHODS: We performed a literature review to assess existing evidence for ethnic and racial disparities in the quality of doctor-patient communication and the doctor-patient relationship. RESULTS: We found consistent evidence that race, ethnicity; and language have substantial influence on the quality of the doctor-patient relationship. Minority patients, especially those not proficient in English, are less likely to engender empathic response from physicians, establish rapport with physicians, receive sufficient information, and be encouraged to participate in medical decision making. CONCLUSIONS: The literature calls for a more diverse physician work force since minority patients are more likely to choose minority physicians, to be more satisfied by language-concordant relationships, and to feel more connected and involved in decision making with racially concordant physicians. The literature upholds the recommendation for professional interpreters to bridge the gaps in access experienced by non-English speaking physicians. Further evidence supports the admonition that "majority" physicians need to be more effective in developing relationships and in their communication with ethnic and racial minority patients.

Communication↗