Cultural Issues

Millions of dollars and hours have been spent on making providers more culturally competent. Has this focus unintentionally missed the mark and ignored the real trigger of health disparities: systemic causes?

A recent issue of the AMA's "Virtual Mentor" contains an excellent commentary on the different ways that the US and the UK approach obesity. While the UK makes systematic changes in how it approaches obesity, we continue to view it here as an individual, psychological problem of the obese individual.

As a physician assistant (PA) who is also a lesbian, I am one among many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people who observe National Coming Out Day on October 11. Its purpose is to encourage discussion on the challenges of living openly among sexual and gender minorities and our supporters. This week's JAAPA blog is intended to bring these discussions into the realm of professional practice for LGBT PAs.

Ms. X, a G2P1 23-year-old pregnant Navajo woman, came with her mother to an Indian Health Service clinic on the Navajo reservation. Her complaint was a bloody discharge for 1 week, and Ms. X and her mother were very concerned. The patient had been receiving regular prenatal care but had missed her last appointment.