Introduction by Vice Chancellor Goldstein
In this installment of Healthcare Workforce Pathways, I am pleased to highlight a new, innovative course: Medical Ethics, Sociology and Humanities (MESH). This program underscores our commitment to educating the future healthcare workforce to offer culturally-aware, team-based, patient-centered, whole-person care for all.
To maintain excellence in healthcare demands we recognize and adapt to the needs of the diverse populations we serve. The MESH course strives to foster the required critical thinking, ethical reasoning and understanding of cultural and societal dimensions to provide optimal patient care. Through interactive sessions, team-based scenarios and engagement with community members, students delve into a wide array of topics, including but not limited to social determinants of health, medical narratives, climate change and medicine, LGBTQ+ healthcare, culinary medicine and structural violence. These educational experiences are designed to cultivate empathy, curiosity and effective communication skills and prepare students to address the ethical dilemmas that so often arise throughout a clinical career.
Through the efforts of a dedicated faculty and the real-world applicability of the curriculum, MESH serves as a model for interprofessional education and practice. The passionate educators have shaped the course to offer diverse perspectives from medicine, nursing, pharmacy and public health, providing students with opportunities to learn through collaboration with peers from other disciplines.
The MESH program is therefore another powerful step toward creation of an interprofessional healthcare workforce that embraces the diversity and richness of all the people of California. It is in harmony with our One Health strategic alliance of health disciplines as well as our mission to: Discover. Teach. Heal.
Fostering Empathy, Collaboration and Cultural Awareness to Improve Healthcare Outcomes
Featuring
- Stephanie Au, DNP, MSN, APRN, FNP-C, Director for Interprofessional Education and Practice; Assistant Clinical Professor, Sue & Bill Gross School of Nursing
- Nana Entsuah-Boateng, PharmD, Health Sciences Assistant Clinical Professor, School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences
- Paola German, DNP, FNP-C, Health Sciences Clinical Instructor, Sue & Bill Gross School of Nursing
- Juliet McMullin, PhD, Professor, Department of Family Medicine; Director Medical Humanities and Arts Program, School of Medicine
- Ronnie Rivera, MD, MSEd, Assistant Clinical Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, UCI Medical Center, Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Wellness; Dean’s Scholar – PRIME Latino Communities; Clerkship Director
- Alisa Wray, MD, MAEd, Associate Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine; Director of Clinical Skills Assessment, School of Medicine
The Genesis of MESH
Conceived from a collective recognition of the need to address the multifaceted challenges in healthcare, the Medical Ethics, Sociology and Humanities (MESH) course aims to integrate crucial aspects of social determinants of health, diversity and equity into healthcare curriculum, thereby equipping students with the skills to deliver compassionate and culturally competent care. Our vision is to empower our students with the tools to provide patient-centered, trauma informed and gender-positive care to their patients, no matter where and with whom they choose to heal.
Educational Innovations and Objectives
The primary objectives of the MESH course are to prepare future healthcare professionals to address social determinants of health and diverse patient experiences as well as understand the ethical dilemmas in a clinical setting by engaging them in critical thinking and reflection on the human experiences that encompass their practice. This course directly impacts the future healthcare workforce by ensuring that emerging clinicians are not only equipped with scientific knowledge but also attuned to the societal impacts and ethical implications of their work. Such a curriculum fosters the growth of well-rounded providers who are prepared to deliver holistic and culturally competent care, uphold the highest standards of medical ethics, and contribute to the healing and well-being of diverse populations.
A Multidisciplinary Approach
The MESH course distinguishes itself through an interprofessional framework, engaging faculty and students from medicine, nursing and pharmacy. This collaborative effort highlights the importance of diverse perspectives in healthcare education and practice. Students, alongside their peers from other disciplines, engage in team-based healthcare scenarios that promote collaboration and communication with guidance from diverse faculty. These immersive experiences enrich the interprofessional learning environment and actively equip future healthcare professionals with the skills necessary for delivering high-quality, patient-centered care, resulting in improved health outcomes.
Real-World Application
The MESH course emphasizes the real-world application of its themes, encouraging students to reflect on their own experiences and to approach patient care with a compassionate, patient-centered mindset. In our social determinants of health lecture, students get to see firsthand how these constructs affect them as students and future physicians, contributing to poor job satisfaction and burn out. In structural violence lectures, we discuss systemic environmental harms that affect them as well. Combined, this unique construct of teachings helps our students build empathy for the patients they see since everyone is vulnerable to the impacts of social determinants of health.
The approach of the MESH curriculum aims to engage students in recognizing the importance of cultural and structural humility when working with marginalized populations and commit to doing their absolute best to serve every patient with the tools and skills at our disposal.We are preparing healthcare professionals to navigate the complexities of modern medicine with ethical integrity and a commitment to the well-being of diverse populations.
A Vision for the Future
In the words of the instructors, the ultimate goal of the MESH course is not only to educate but to inspire students to address the systemic issues that impact patient care. It is our hope that students will see that medicine is not just about our behaviors and genetics that determine our health, but rather a complex network of intertwined elements that determine healthcare outcomes. Every patient interaction is more complicated than what it appears on the surface and our job is to recognize that complexity.
The MESH course is more than a curriculum; it is a commitment to the holistic formation of healthcare professionals. By integrating ethical considerations, sociocultural understanding and humanistic approaches, the MESH course is poised to significantly impact the future of healthcare, ensuring that the next generation of healthcare professionals are well-equipped with the skills, compassion and cultural competence necessary to navigate the complexities of modern healthcare.
I am inspired by the need to educate well-rounded healthcare professionals who are equipped to make critical decisions when faced with difficult ethical, social and cultural situations while delivering compassionate care to the diverse population we serve.
Paola German, DNP, FNP-C
