Teaching cultural competency through narrative medicine: intersections of classroom and community

Cultural competency and narrative medicine are perspectives that assist medical educators in teaching effective, empathetic communication and service delivery to a variety of patients.

In this article, we describe a unique educational activity at the crossroads of these perspectives in which pediatric residents participated in a monthly reading and discussion group with staff members of an inner-city Dominican American community organization.

By discussing a literary text rather than cases and facilitating discussions with particular attention to power, not only were historic conflicts between the groups circumvented, but an environment was created in which discussants drew heavily from personal and professional experiences. Qualitative evaluation of both groups revealed improved self-reported understanding of (a) issues of cultural diversity, (b) issues of medical culture, and (c) physicians' attitudes and behaviors in practice.

Methodologies drawing from cultural competency and narrative medicine can be used to help physicians work in multidisciplinary, multicultural teams in and out of the medical institution.