Field Note #1
Posted by hi G on 2011. 9. 2. 11:31Hi G, MD’14
09/01/11
Prompt: Culture (and how it may influence your medical education and practice)
For some people, “culture” is something to consider only when a field note is due on that topic. For others, like me, cultural awareness is an essential part of my daily life as an international student, someone who is from a different country and speaks English as a second language. Medical school must have been a huge change for most of my classmates, but, for me, the biggest change was in the composition and culture of the student body. In college, many of the minority students have their own communities of people who share the same culture, language, country of origin, skin color, sexual orientation, etc. Being part of a community is especially important for minority students because it gives them a place where they can feel comfortable and accepted for who they are, without having to “act” to belong to the majority.
As an undergrad, I was an active member of the Korean international students group. Although our majors and interests ranged from comparative literature to quantum physics to music theory to economics, the students shared the language and the roots; we talked to each other in Korean and most of us still lived in Korea while attending school. Having such a community seems to be a luxury in medical school, however. I did not realize how important it was to have that zone of comfort for my social and psychological well-being, because the most difficult aspects of medical school for me have been social and cultural. (E.g. How do I strike up a conversation with a classmate at a medical school mixer? He says he has a PhD in engineering, holds three patents, but has never traveled outside of the U.S... And someone please tell me what Doogie Howser is?!) And I am not only speaking from personal experience. When I talk to classmates who are, for example, gay, or Jewish, or black, or Christian, many of them agree that medical school is not the most welcoming environment to contemplate culture or identity, and that they similarly struggle with the sense of loneliness and deprivation.
Although there is much to whine about how difficult it is to deal with the absence of active minority communities at medical school, I believe the experience of being a minority can actually be helpful for future physicians. Being a minority in the U.S. means to be forced to think about how you may be viewed in the eyes of the dominant Other, and then to learn how to be "accepted" by the majority while struggling not to let go of your own identity. It also means to be aware of the existence of differences, not just act as if there is no such thing as culture or race or language barrier or gender, or to think about them only when required by a field note assignment. Both the majority/minority struggle in the U.S. and the doctor-patient interaction are examples of an inherently unequal relationship, and, being a minority can be a challenging, unpleasant, and even traumatizing experience. Yet, for future doctors who understand these circumstances, it can also be an eye-opening experience to put themselves in the patient’s shoes, to be kind to patients without losing the authority, and to humbly acknowledge that every patient is different -- in other words, a great opportunity to develop empathy.
09/01/11
Prompt: Culture (and how it may influence your medical education and practice)
For some people, “culture” is something to consider only when a field note is due on that topic. For others, like me, cultural awareness is an essential part of my daily life as an international student, someone who is from a different country and speaks English as a second language. Medical school must have been a huge change for most of my classmates, but, for me, the biggest change was in the composition and culture of the student body. In college, many of the minority students have their own communities of people who share the same culture, language, country of origin, skin color, sexual orientation, etc. Being part of a community is especially important for minority students because it gives them a place where they can feel comfortable and accepted for who they are, without having to “act” to belong to the majority.
As an undergrad, I was an active member of the Korean international students group. Although our majors and interests ranged from comparative literature to quantum physics to music theory to economics, the students shared the language and the roots; we talked to each other in Korean and most of us still lived in Korea while attending school. Having such a community seems to be a luxury in medical school, however. I did not realize how important it was to have that zone of comfort for my social and psychological well-being, because the most difficult aspects of medical school for me have been social and cultural. (E.g. How do I strike up a conversation with a classmate at a medical school mixer? He says he has a PhD in engineering, holds three patents, but has never traveled outside of the U.S... And someone please tell me what Doogie Howser is?!) And I am not only speaking from personal experience. When I talk to classmates who are, for example, gay, or Jewish, or black, or Christian, many of them agree that medical school is not the most welcoming environment to contemplate culture or identity, and that they similarly struggle with the sense of loneliness and deprivation.
Although there is much to whine about how difficult it is to deal with the absence of active minority communities at medical school, I believe the experience of being a minority can actually be helpful for future physicians. Being a minority in the U.S. means to be forced to think about how you may be viewed in the eyes of the dominant Other, and then to learn how to be "accepted" by the majority while struggling not to let go of your own identity. It also means to be aware of the existence of differences, not just act as if there is no such thing as culture or race or language barrier or gender, or to think about them only when required by a field note assignment. Both the majority/minority struggle in the U.S. and the doctor-patient interaction are examples of an inherently unequal relationship, and, being a minority can be a challenging, unpleasant, and even traumatizing experience. Yet, for future doctors who understand these circumstances, it can also be an eye-opening experience to put themselves in the patient’s shoes, to be kind to patients without losing the authority, and to humbly acknowledge that every patient is different -- in other words, a great opportunity to develop empathy.