Cultural competency 2.0: exploring the concept of "difference" in engagement with the other.

Cultural competency efforts have received much attention in medical education. Most efforts focus on the acquisition of knowledge and skills about various groups based on race and ethnic identity, national origins, religion, and the like. The authors propose an approach, "Cultural Competency 2.

Derogatory and cynical humour directed towards patients: views of residents and attending doctors.

Context: A study of medical students' perspectives on derogatory and cynical humour was published in 2006. The current study examines residents' and attending doctors' perspectives on the same phenomenon in three clinical departments of psychiatry, internal medicine and surgery.

Methods: Two focus groups were conducted in each of the three clinical departments, one with residents and one with attending doctors,during the 2006-07 academic year.

Patients' perspectives on total knee replacement.

Objective: Because patients' perspectives on total knee replacement (TKR) surgery have rarely been the topic of research, this study sought to describe their pre- and postoperative experiences.

Methods: Using a qualitative descriptive design, researchers collected data from a convenience sample of 27 patients who were about to undergo or had recently undergone TKR. Preoperative data were obtained in focus group sessions (n = 17); postoperative data were obtained in individual interviews (n = 10).

The association of exposure, risk, and resiliency factors with PTSD among Jews and Arabs exposed to repeated acts of terrorism in Israel.

Israel has faced ongoing terrorism since the beginning of the Al Aqsa Intifada in September 2000. The authors examined risk and resiliency factors associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among 1,117 Jews and 394 Arab adult citizens of Israel during August and September 2004 through telephone interviews. Probable PTSD was found among 6.

Rituals of verification: the role of simulation in developing and evaluating empathic communication.

The use of simulation and standardized patients in medical education is firmly established. In this "point-counterpoint" format we debate not their important function but the extent to which they are used to establish "evidence" for trainees' empathic communication skills beyond their surface manifestations. We also question such issues as the power dynamics implicit in simulation when patients are not really worried or dependent but rather students who are under the evaluative surveillance gaze, often relying on formulaic and superficial behaviors associated with good communication.

Making fun of patients: medical students' perceptions and use of derogatory and cynical humor in clinical settings.

Purpose: It has long been known that medical students become more cynical as they move through their training, and at times even exhibit "ethical erosion." This study examines one dimension of this phenomenon: how medical students perceive and use derogatory and cynical humor directed at patients.

Method: The authors conducted five voluntary focus groups over a three-month period with 58 third- and fourth-year medical students at the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine in 2005.