Excellence in Development of Health Care Providers: The Nicaragua Clinical Experience

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 17% of the U.S. population is Latino, with an expected increase to 31% by 2060. It is imperative that we prepare students who will be future health care providers with the resources needed to care for the Latino population, specifically increasing the number of Spanish-speaking health care providers who have some understanding of the Latino culture. There is a lack of health care providers who are educated about the Latino culture and lack mentorship in the development of medical conversational Spanish.

The Nicaragua Clinical Experience is a service learning abroad program embedded in an academic setting through the scholarship of cultural immersion, language development, health care, and leadership development of students.

The Nicaragua Clinical Experience is a unique academic program that prepares pre-health care majors to provide culturally congruent health care for the Latino population.

Students are prepared to care for Latino patients through the cultural immersion program and are also introduced to working in "team-based care" multidisciplinary groups to improve health care outcomes.