Master of Education in Teaching Program with an Emphasis in the Health Sciences

Introduction: Concerns about the quality of physician education have changed current medical education practices. Learners must demonstrate competency in core areas, rather than solely participating in educational activities. Academic medical institutions are challenged with identifying leaders to direct curricular and evaluation reforms. An innovative partnership between the University of Houston College of Education and Baylor College of Medicine, the University of Texas Medical School at Houston, and the University of Texas Dental Branch at Houston offers a Masters of Education in Teaching degree with an emphasis in Health Sciences. Courses encompass fundamental areas including curriculum, instruction, technology, measurement, research design and statistics. [See PDF for complete abstract]

Cultural competence in an HIV dedicated dental clinic: Application of the National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services in Health Care (CLAS)

This dissertation investigated perspectives on cultural competence among African-American women patients, staff, and the administrator of a dental clinic serving people living with HIV/AIDS; and evaluated the role of the National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services in Health Care (CLAS) in advancing the provision of culturally competent care in the clinic. ^ The study was qualitative with data collection via focus groups and individual interviews with a sample of African-American women patients, and individual interviews with a sample of staff and the clinic administrator. Transcripts were coded and themes identified using the software program ATLAS.ti. A cultural audit template was developed and applied to evaluate cultural competency. ^ Among attitudes and behaviors that contributed to the provision of culturally competent care at the clinic were respect and empathic communication. Formal cultural competency was not featured strongly in the methods by which the staff learned to work with diverse populations. Instead cultural competence among the staff was based on thoughtful hiring practices, natural aptitude and a climate that encouraged learning through informal sharing of experiences. The staff and administrator felt that an African-American dentist would be an asset in improving culturally competent care at the clinic. Previous research and national policy also promote the provider-patient racial/ethnic concordance to improve care. In this study, however, the patients were happy with the care provided regardless of the race/ethnicity of the staff, probably reflecting the well developed cultural competence skills of clinic staff overall. ^ The clinic administrator was unaware of the CLAS standards although the clinic was implicitly operated under their mandates. This occurred because the clinic is supported by federal funding and the CLAS standards were incorporated into the requirements. Incorporation into and monitoring of the CLAS standards in federally funded programs therefore appears to be an effective means for ensuring that they are implemented. ^ This study illustrates that cultural competence, though not universally understood, can be systematically investigated to identify what constitutes appropriate care and the factors that support or inhibit it. Among important elements of culturally competent care are respect and empathic communication. ^

The Role of the Clinical Educator in Evaluating Nursing Competency

INTRODUCTION: Evaluation of nursing competency is critical to assuring patient safety and maintaining high professional standards in the practice of nursing. All nurses must graduate from an approved nursing program and successfully pass the national board exam before receiving initial licensure. State boards of nursing fulfill the role of gatekeeper, seeking to assure the public that nurses provide safe, competent care. In turn, high public awareness and patient advocacy initiatives require close monitoring of nursing competency. [See PDF for complete abstract]