A prescription for cultural competence in medical education

Cultural competence programs have proliferated in U.S. medical schools in response to increasing national diversity, as well as man-dates from accrediting bodies. Although such training programs share common goals of improving physician-patient communication and re-ducing health disparities, they often differ in their content, emphasis, setting, and duration. Moreover, training in cross-cultural medicine may be absent from students ’ clinical rotations, when it might be most relevant and memorable. In this article, the authors recommend a number of elements to strengthen cultural competency education in medical schools. This ‘‘prescription for cultural competence’ ’ is intend-ed to promote an active and integrated approach to multicultural issues throughout medical school training. KEY WORDS: cultural competency; medical education; disparities