Refugee Health and Cultural Awareness Program

The Refugee Health and Cultural Awareness Training Program was developed to enhance the cultural sensitivity and competency of medical students and serves the dual purpose of improving access to preventive and primary care services for refugees in Western New York.

This program offers a concentrated cultural-immersion experience by involving medical students in the provision of care during refugee health sessions at a local refugee resettlement site and at family practice clinics.

Each session consists of an orientation session, a 3-4 hour clinical session in which students are with a preceptor and refugees, and a short debriefing session.

Goals for the students are:

• Self-awareness regarding one's own ethnicity/culture
• Understanding and Appreciation for cultural diversity in the health care setting
• Enhanced communication skills including ability to utilize interpretive services
• Skills for establishing collaborative partnerships between providers and patients
• To increase cultural sensitivity and competency among medical students and residents while improving access to preventive and primary care services for refugees in the Western New York region.
• To complete a pre- and post- test questionnaire on cultural competency.
  

" Linkage of refugees to primary care is critical for the refugees and this program, with medical student involvement, greatly enhances understanding of culture."
International Institute

"One of the things that this program does is it allows us to bring students in for a session that is fairly slow paced, so students get a chance to talk with the patients, and that is incredibly important because if you don't see people as people, if you don't see them for who they are and where they come from, then you're not going to give them the kind of care that you really should be giving." Dr. Myron Glick

"Students becoming involved with refugee families enriches both providers and recipients of health care by promoting active listening, cultural awareness and patient partnerships. It is also immensely rewarding to the teacher!" Dr. Kim Griswold

Questions or comments? Contact us online or via telephone (716) 898-5558

Funded in part by the New York State Department of Health, the New York State Health Foundation and the University at Buffalo Department of Family Medicine.