Cultural competency: dentistry and medicine learning from one another.

Full Abstract

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) report Unequal Treatment:
Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care is serving as a catalyst for the medical profession to re-examine the manner in which its institutions and training programs relate to cultural competence. This report found that racial and ethnic disparities exist in health care and that a lack of access to care does not fully explain why such disparities exist. The IOM study found bias, stereotyping, prejudice, and clinical uncertainty as possible contributing causes. The U.S. Surgeon General's Report on the Oral Health of the Nation also pointed to oral health disparities related to race, ethnicity, and culture. This paper discusses how medicine is responding to the Unequal Treatment report and the lessons to be considered for dentistry. Recommendations on how dentistry can apply the knowledge from this report to help reduce oral health disparities are suggested.

Learn Faster Today Improve your study skills

Author information

Author/s: Formicola, Allan J (AJ); Stavisky, Judith (J); Lewy, Robert (R);

Affiliation: Columbia University School of Dental and Oral Surgery, USA. ajf3(-atsign-)columbia.edu

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Journal of dental education (J Dent Educ), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2003-Aug; vol 67 (issue 8) : pp 869-75

Dates: Created 2003/09/08; Completed 2003/09/24; Revised 2006/11/15;

PMID: 12959160, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article (including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.

MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

This article has not been indexed for related articles as yet, however you can still use the live related article search links below.

See 100+ related articles.