When classes begin at UTSA on Tuesday, the University will begin a new concentration offered in the Department of Communication to prepare undergraduate students interested in careers in health care to be able to understand communications in the rapidly changing field of medicine, and in America's rapidly changing demographics, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
Dr. Shamshad Khan, who helped develop the new curriculum, says it isn't just 'bedside manner' but it will open up the entire realm of how to communicate with the increasingly diverse patient population the doctors, nurses, and other health care professionals will deal with in the coming decades.
"Medical education should be recalibrated so that we are prepared to meet the demands of the cultural shifts that are coming, with cultures and communities coming together," he said.
Dr. Khan cites as an example the ways physicians in Texas have long known how to talk with patients about serious health issues. Patients of northern European background generally prefer to talk one on one, while patients of Latino heritage, as an example, frequently prefer to have their family involved in those discussions.
He says with new groups from Africa and Asia moving into Texas, being able to communicate with increasingly diverse cultures will be very important for the next generation of medical personnel.
"We as persons in our own cultural context are central to the way we experience diseases."
Dr. Khan says the understanding of the patient's role in medical care is also evolving.
He says in the sixties and seventies, doctors were trained that the patient was essentially a 'machine to be fixed.' But today, doctors are beginning to realize the holistic nature of treating disease, and how the patient needs to be brought on board for the treatment process.
"Are they compassionate, are they understanding, do they have time to listen," he said. "Communication is becoming very central to deal with all types of illness."
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