Massive resources are expended every year training physicians to be more aware of cultural differences, also known as cultural competence training. Such training is a focus of continuing medical education nationwide and is part of the curriculum of virtually every medical school in America. However, there is no rigorous study assessing whether cultural competency training for physicians results in better health outcomes for their patients.
The study is a randomized clinical trial involving 90 physicians total from Atlanta and the Bronx and 1192 of their African American and Latino/Hispanic pediatric patients with asthma. Two interventions will be studied: the Physician Asthma Care Education (PACE) program for enhancing physician’s clinical therapeutics, communication, and counseling skills; and PACE Plus, which is a version of the PACE program designed to enhance the cultural competence of the clinician. The study will investigate whether PACE Plus produces better outcomes for minority patients and their parents as compared to PACE. We will collect data from the 90 physicians and the parents of the 1192 children in the study.
This study is funded by a grant from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. For more information about this project, please contact Lara Thomas at ljthomas@umich.edu or through our toll-free number 877-312-3312.