Center for Multicultural and Community Affairs

A primary focus of the Center for Multicultural and Community Affairs (CMCA) is to support and enhance diversity in Mount Sinai School of Medicine and to support development of academic and research careers for minorities.

In early 2004 CMCA developed a diversity statement, on behalf of Mount Sinai School of Medicine, which is included in the Mount Sinai Faculty Handbook, the Consortium for Graduate Medical Education House Staff Manual, and the Medical Student Handbook. It states:

"Mount Sinai is committed to promoting and supporting diversity at all levels in the working and learning environments and to meeting the needs of the diverse body of students, faculty, staff, and communities we serve. Diversity in the health professions workforce benefits every aspect of health care. Addressing the needs of our increasingly multicultural and ethnically diverse patient population at Mount Sinai, makes it essential that patients have increased access to physicians who share their ethnic heritage. Further, interacting with a diverse peer group is important for students, house staff, and faculty for effectively managing cross-cultural patient presentations and impacting on health outcomes."

CMCA has developed several programs designed to fulfill on our mission and charge. Our programs are intended to have an impact and make a difference in the following areas: URM medical students, URM faculty, the medical school curriculum, research, community service learning, and at the pipeline program level.

Diversity

• The Mount Sinai Medical Center
• Association of American Medical Colleges
• Diversity Statement (Faculty Handbook)

Culture and Health Work Group Overview

The CMCA spearheaded the development of the Cultural Competencies project in July 2000. Participants of this multi-year initiative included faculty, deans and medical students and served as the base for the Culture and Health Work Group (CHWG) which is overseen and coordinated by CMCA. Chaired by Dr. Gary Butts, Associate Dean for Diversity Programs, Policy, and Community Affairs, the CHWG was charged by the Dean for Medical Education with the goal to develop strategic tactics, program activities and projects to implement a comprehensive and integrated approach that will address education, research and community relevant activities related to culture and health. These programs, projects, and activities will be oriented to expand culturally focused themes, activities and assessments throughout the required medical school and residency curricula.

Members of the CHWG come from the following Mount Sinai Departments and its affiliates:

Mount Sinai School of Medicine

• Department of Medical Education
• Department of Nursing
• Department of Community and Preventive Medicine
• Department of Social Work
• Department of Medicine; Internal Medicine Residency Program
• Center of Excellence in Youth Education
• Family Medicine Clerkship Program
• Obstetrics and Gynecology Clerkship Program
• Pediatrics Clerkship Program
• Human Resources (Mount Sinai Hospital)

Mount Sinai Medical Center Affiliates

• North General Hospital
• Elmhurst Hospital
• Jamaica Medical Center
• Maimonides Medical Center

The CHWG currently includes three working sub-committees: Curriculum and Evaluation, Residency Training, and Mapping. Early products of this project include an institutional definition for cultural competence in health, several new curricular additions, and an instrument for measuring "cultural behaviors" in clinical encounters otherwise known as Observing Cultural Behaviors in Settings (OCBIS).

CHWG Subcommittees

Curriculum and Evaluation Committee

The Curriculum and Evaluation (C&E) Committee has the charge to assure that the medical school curriculum adequately teaches and assesses cultural competencies by integrating them into the existing medical school curriculum. C&E identified an array of cultural ideas and areas that all students graduating from MSSM should have experience with - consolidated and categorized into nine DOMAINS: Beliefs, Values, and Biases; Bridging Differences; Control Factors; Environmental Constraints; Health Care Networks; Health Disparities; Language and Literacy; Self and Other; Similarities and Differences.

Residency Training

The Residency Training Committee aims to develop new and innovative efficient teaching approaches to cultural competence for physicians in post-graduate training programs at Mount Sinai Hospital and its affiliates. Our pilot project will commence in July 2006 working with five residency programs. The pilot will assess current cultural competency curriculum efforts in the various residency training programs and begin to work with directors to enhance their curriculum.

Mapping

The Mapping Committee has developed a matrix tool to monthly scan, identify, and organize, not monitor, programs, projects, activities, and events relevant to diversity and cultural competence occurring within the MSSM curriculum and the medical center.

CHWG Products

• A Cultural Domain Framework for a Four Year Medical School Curriculum - developed by the C&E Subcommittee

CHWG Activities and Projects

• Observing Cultural Bias In Settings - Assessing Medical Students Use of Cultural Elicitation
• Medicina en Español Program
• The Residency Cultural Curriculum Project
• Culture, Health and Illness course of the MSSM Clinical Research Training Program and Masters of Public Health Program
• MSSM Culture and Health Related Activities Mapping Grid

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