title: The Impact of Cultural Competence Education on Short-Term Medical Mission Groups: A Pilot Study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There are large numbers of short-term medical mission (STMM) groups traveling yearly from the United States to underdeveloped countries. Medical professionals educated in the Western biomedical model of treatment have an ethnocentric view of how to treat illness.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this pilot study was to demonstrate that a 2-hour culturally sensitive educational program administered to medical professionals travelling to Haiti on a STMM could raise their cultural competency as measured by a specific tool.
  
  
  METHODS
  The participants were invited to a short educational program designed to help them understand their own biases and make better treatment decisions for their patients based on the five constructs of Dr. Campinha-Bacote's cultural competence model.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Following an evidence-based educational program, the members of the STMM groups demonstrated improved levels of cultural competency.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This program could provide an appropriate way to raise the cultural competency of medical mission health care providers.
authors.affiliation: TL Care Corporation, Beech Grove, IN, USA msteinke@iupui.edu.
authors.forename: Mary K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Steinke
authors.affiliation: Indiana University School of Nursing, Indianapolis, IN, USA.
authors.forename: Mary E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Riner
authors.affiliation: Indiana University School of Nursing, Indianapolis, IN, USA.
authors.forename: Carol
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Shieh
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D054521:Cultural Competency / Q000193:education*; D005260:Female; D006205:Haiti / Q000208:ethnology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008493:Medical Missions; D008875:Middle Aged; D016746:Transcultural Nursing; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: cultural competence; ethnocentric; quasi-experimental designs; short-term medical mission groups