title: Improving cross-cultural communication in health professions education.
abstract: In the District of Columbia, health education programs are required for all students, yet inner-city elementary public charter schools do not have enough funding to hire nursing personnel in their schools to provide such programs to their students. Therefore, some public charter school administrators partner with community agencies to bring additional cost-free resources to their schools. However, collaborative and partnership activities in DC can be fraught with racial strife. This article describes the partnership between the Georgetown University School of Nursing & Health Studies, the School of Medicine, and select DC elementary schools and presents a specific example of one partnership between the University and an elementary public charter school. The article describes a communication breakdown between the predominately Caucasian nursing and medical students and the predominately African American faculty, staff, and students of the public charter school, with suggestions about how to avoid and overcome such conflicts in the future.
authors.affiliation: Northern Virginia Community College, USA.
authors.forename: Sharon T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.forename: Meredith
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Censullo
authors.forename: Donna D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Cameron
authors.forename: Judith A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Baigis
mesh_terms: D001741:Black or African American / Q000208:ethnology*; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel / Q000208:ethnology*; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003144:Communication Barriers; D003159:Community-Institutional Relations; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D018864:Cultural Diversity; D004219:District of Columbia; D004508:Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate / Q000458:organization & administration; D005178:Faculty; D006266:Health Education / Q000458:organization & administration*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D011287:Prejudice; D012381:Role Playing; D012572:School Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration; D012579:Schools, Nursing / Q000458:organization & administration; D013240:Stereotyping; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology; D013338:Students, Nursing / Q000523:psychology; D016746:Transcultural Nursing / Q000193:education; D044465:White People / Q000208:ethnology*