Assessing deaf cultural competency of physicians and medical students

Abstract

The Medical Students, Cancer Control, and the Deaf Community Training program (DCT) intended to create physicians who were culturally competent to care for deaf patients were evaluated. DCT medical students (n= 22), UCSD medical faculty (n=131), and non-DCT medical students (n=211) were anonymously surveyed about their perceptions related to deaf patients, deaf cultural competency, and interpreter use. The faculty and non-DCT medical students displayed less knowledge than the DCT students. These findings suggest that training medical students in deaf cultural competency can significantly increase their capacity to care for community members and reduce the health disparities experienced by this community. © The Author(s) 2010.