No matter where your medical career takes you, you will most likely encounter patients facing barriers to accessing health care. Everyone needs to prepare to care for underserved patients.
Shannon U. Waterman, MD, Amanda Kost, MD, Rachel Lazzar, MSW, and Sharon Dobie, MD, MCP
The Underserved Pathway at the University of Washington School of Medicine helps prepare future physicians to work with underserved populations by providing a foundation of practical knowledge and real-world experiences.
A community coalition dedicated to helping homeless people designed a health care intervention that has become a comprehensive and successful medical and respite care program.
Those who survived Hurricanes Katrina and Rita faced homelessness and physical and mental health problems that created ethical dilemmas for physicians.
Much premed education encourages acquiring competence in basic science and demonstrating (rather than developing) the characteristics of a good physician.
PRIME-LC is a 5-year, dual-degree program at the University of California, Irvine Medical School that educates physician activists to serve in poor Latino communities.
A pre-med student relates his family's experiences in trying to get his strong-willed grandfather to adhere to a strict medical care regimen for his chronic condition.
A U.S. physician relates the culture shock he is experiencing working as an area medical officer in Eastern Africa for the U.S. Peace Corps in his latest online journal entry.