When serving an ethnically diverse population, it is imperative that physicians have an understanding of a patients' cultural background and attitudes towards health, nutrition and personal care.
Derrel Zeno, Coreen Domingo, Anh Tran, Frank Martin, Kimberly O'Malley, Paul Haidet, Richard Street, and Carol Ashton
Community education about how patients can best communicate with their physicians has been successful in various communities, particularly when working with an ethnically diverse patient population.
The authors of a 1995 Archives of Internal Medicine article assert that physicians should engage in bedside rationing in order to contain rising health care costs, while some ethicists oppose the practice on the basis that it will disrupt the essential trust between patient and physician.