Promoting cultural awareness, professionalism, and communication skills in medicine through anatomy: The Deaf culture session

Abstract

The anatomy curriculum is a place where professionalism can be learned and practiced, including training in cultural competence and communication skills for working with diverse populations. One population that has received little attention in terms of medical education are d/Deaf and hard of hearing (d/DHH) patients, although there is much evidence to support health care disparities in this population. Several major contributing factors include differing views of deafness between medical professionals and those who are culturally Deaf, a lack of understanding of Deaf culture

Assessing how students value learning communication skills in an undergraduate anatomy and physiology course

“…Modifying existing activities and assessments to include communication skills could help minimize the perceived time constraint that may be limiting the motivation and engagement that students have with learning critical skills like communication. Specifically, content learning, that may already hold value for students, could be supplemented with opportunities to practice communication skills (Heidenreich, 2016; Evans & Pawlina, 2020; Greene & Scott, 2021). Designing courses to include non‐technical skills, like communication, has been successfully done in medical schools (Gregory et al, 2009) and thus could offer a model for such modifications in undergraduate A&P courses.…”

“…Patient‐centered care can be critical for successful outcomes (Stewart et al, 2000; Street et al, 2009; Adams, 2010). Effective communication also includes increasing students' cultural competency and ability to communicate with diverse patients (Evans, 2013, Evans et al, 2018, Evans & Pawlina, 2020; Greene & Scott, 2021). When asked to describe their best physician experiences, patients across 14 medical areas and using inpatient and outpatient services at Mayo Clinic, focused on interpersonal skills (e.g., empathy, personal, respectful) over technical abilities (Bendapudi et al, 2006).…”

A thematic analysis of students' discussions on death and body donation in international online focus groups

“…Historically, anatomy education has been a strictly in‐person discipline, usually involving exposure to cadaveric body donors through in‐laboratory learning experiences 1–3 . The anatomy laboratory environment has been repeatedly tied to the development of beneficial skills, as well as personal and professional growth through the exposure to human body donors, which often initiates students' reflections on death, ethics, and other related topics 4–14 . Accordingly, published research findings on the role of anatomy education in initiating students' reflections on these topics are mostly based on traditional laboratory teaching formats that include in‐person exposure to a human body 15–20 .…”

“…[1][2][3] The anatomy laboratory environment has been repeatedly tied to the development of beneficial skills, as well as personal and professional growth through the exposure to human body donors, which often initiates students' reflections on death, ethics, and other related topics. [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] Accordingly, published research findings on the role of anatomy education in initiating students' reflections on these topics are mostly based on traditional laboratory teaching formats that include in-person exposure to a human body. [15][16][17][18][19][20] However, as technology advances, options for facilitating anatomy education online are becoming increasingly prevalent, and little is known about how these changes may affect students' introspection surrounding the topic of death.…”

Promoting more future‐ready anatomy education after the Covid‐19 pandemic: A scoping review

“…Such teaching of medical professionalism has been introduced during cadaveric dissection (Escobar‐Poni & Poni, 2006), gross anatomy laboratory practice (Swartz, 2006), reciprocal peer teaching (Krych et al, 2005), reflective practice (Lachman & Pawlina, 2006), group activities (Huggett et al, 2016), clinical simulations (Torres et al, 2014), and interprofessional education (Hamilton et al, 2008). For instance, Greene and Scott (2021) included deaf patients in anatomy classes to develop students' cultural competencies. However, this approach required students' physical presence in the classroom.…”