Dignified Healthcare for Immigrants: The Need for Cross-Cultural Efficacy in America’s Medical Community

Abstract

The diversification of the American population changes the healthcare landscape. Patients with different cultural belief systems and the increased incidence of tropical diseases in the United States requires reform in the education of medical practitioners in the U.S. In this paper, I will show that successful treatment of minority patients requires cross-cultural efficacy. The American medical community possesses a moral responsibility to develop cross-cultural efficacy because it is necessary to uphold the principle of non-maleficence ("do not harm"), to promote human dignity and capabilities, and to provide just healthcare from a Rawlsian perspective. As such, medical school policymakers should think about cross-cultural efficacy as a vital skill to be developed in students, and they should require medical students to engage in active learning by participating in rotations at clinics serving minority populations.