The best view of New Jersey.
Posted on 04/10/2005 4:50:14 PM PDT by Cagey
TRENTON, N.J. -- Barbara Eckstein does not want to be the kind of doctor who treats some patients better than others.
The 30-year-old medical student believes a new law requiring doctors to complete cultural sensitivity training before practicing medicine in New Jersey will help teach physicians to care for all their patients equally well.
"There's a core group of believers now who understand how important this is," said Eckstein, a Nutley resident and senior at New Jersey Medical School in Newark. "The key is to get the rest of the medical community to recognize it and to not feel threatened by it."
The state Legislature wrote a new prescription for the state's physicians by approving a measure requiring M.D.'s to be culturally competent as a condition of getting _ or keeping _ their medical licenses.
When acting Gov. Richard J. Codey signed the bill into law late last month, he noted the importance of having doctors that recognize the prevalence of high blood pressure, asthma, AIDS and other diseases among some minority communities.
"This new law will help provide equality in medical care by requiring that New Jersey physicians take special training to diagnose and treat conditions that are prevalent among minorities," Codey said.
Under terms of the law, the curriculum in the state's medical colleges will have to include instruction in cultural competency designed to address race- and gender-based disparities in medical treatment.
It hasn't been decided how the training will be implemented _ it could be a required lecture, online course or something else _ but all doctors in the state will have to complete the requirement before they are licensed or relicensed. New Jersey doctors renew their medical licenses every two years.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...
The best view of New Jersey.
> ... help teach physicians to care for all their patients equally well.
Well, many physicians treat all patients as some sort of
inferior species. The minorities probably mistake this
for discrimination. The courses are unlikely to fix it.
God forbid people should make up their own minds and just decide to go to a doctor who treats them better if they don't like the way they're being treated by the one they have.
I wonder if proctologists have to go to this training when all they deal with is a$$holes all day anyway.
Nutty. How do clowns like this manage to s---, shower and shave themselves each morning?
I wonder, do you suppose these doctors who seem to need this training have ever read The Oath, or Epidemics by Hippocrates?
If doctors today followed the Oath, there would be no abortions, nor assisted suicide.
bump
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.