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BECOMING A PHYSICIAN Previous Volume 353:1316-1319 September 29, 2005 Number 13 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

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The phrase "cultural competence" arises often in discussions about improving medical education and health care in the United States. It is usually used to refer to a body of knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behavior in which physicians ought to be trained if they are to deliver "sensitive," "empathetic," "humanistic" care that is "respectful" of patients, involves effective "patient-centered communication," and responds to patients' "psychosocial issues and needs." It is commendable that the authors who address these attributes think of them as professional abilities that can be taught and implemented in clinical training, rather than primarily as virtues associated with moral . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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Dr. Fox is a professor emerita in the Department of Sociology and a senior fellow of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Schim, S. M., Doorenbos, A. Z., Borse, N. N. (2006). Enhancing Cultural Competence Among Hospice Staff. AM J HOSP PALLIAT CARE 23: 404-411 [Abstract]