The Role of Medical Education Offices in Preparing the Physician Workforce to Care for LHS+ Individuals

This chapter discusses the role of medical education offices in the advancement of LHS+ -focused medical education. Medical education must evolve to reflect the needs of the patient population to ensure that physicians are prepared to equitably care for their communities. LHS+ medical students and faculty at U.S. medical schools have made significant contributions to the development of educational strategies for medical student and physician preparedness to care for the growing LHS+ population. In this chapter, we discuss the gradual integration of LHS+ health and health disparities into medical education, including the curriculum content standards of accrediting institutions. We present examples of LHS+ -focused cultural competency education in the context of medical education. We also discuss the development of medical Spanish educational programs to build a language concordant physician workforce with the skills to address the communication needs of Spanish-speaking LHS+ individuals with non-English language preference. Finally, we propose next steps needed in medical education systems that prioritize health equity, cultural competency, and language access for the LHS+ population.