Med students consider Aboriginal perspectives

The Faculty of Medicine at the University of Calgary is implementing curriculum that will help contemporary doctors meet Aboriginal healthcare needs better.
Through an interactive approach of applying "cultural sessions" in the existing curriculum, future physicians will be able to narrow the gaps perpetuated by cultural misunderstanding between contemporary doctors and Aboriginal populations, according to the Department of Family Medicine.
Sally Goodstriker, the Aboriginal liaison at Calgary's Children's Hospital, said there are already many parallels in treatment, but the majority of doctors have a hard time accepting the traditional Aboriginal approach to treatment and healing.
"We at Children's have doctors who are very in tune with that (traditional practice), and we also have doctors who still think we are pagan worshippers," Goodstriker said.
While Goodstriker thinks adding a cultural aspect to medical school would help, she said, after 10 years in her field, a few classes won't make a huge difference, but also admitted it was a step in the right direction.
"It's like putting your foot in the water if you're afraid to swim. At least a good start is going over there and getting your feet wet, Goodstriker said.
Goodstriker said gaps would always exist because institutionalized knowledge is much different than applied learning, such as is traditional medicine handed down through the generations.
"Students have university knowledge and skill, and that's good, but they will never have the other," Goodstriker explained.
The current condition of health among Aboriginal people in Canada is impacted by the experiences inherent in historical, political, economic and social inequalities, according to the University of Calgary, Department of Family Medicine.
"One of the many gaps present in the healthcare system is the differences in perspectives and explanatory model for the cause of illness and disease held between Aboriginal patients and non-Aboriginal physicians," reads their Web site.
Dr. Kim Zapf, a professor in the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Calgary, said he strongly supports the idea of medical students participating in cultural immersion experiences.
"I think that Western/contemporary medicine has much to learn from Aboriginal notions of balance and wholeness," said Zapf.
"My hope would be that the resulting practice perspectives would improve care, not just for Aboriginal people, but for all people. This is very different from saying, 'Aboriginal spirituality should be a subject matter to be addressed by Western/contemporary medicine,'" Zapf said.
The project is an ongoing research initiative which aids curriculum development concurrently, said Anh Ly, a research associate and project coordinator.
"We have done research with local Aboriginal participants, like focus groups where questions about health and wellness are asked. And from those findings develop curriculum," said Ly.
Ly said response from the student body and fellow faculty members has been, for the most part, positive concerning the cultural immersion aspect of the curriculum, including a cultural camp where students spend a couple of days in tribal territories and engage elders, healers and spiritual practices such as sweats and smudging.
The point of the camp is not to teach students specific details of traditional healing, and the department contends it would not be appropriate to even attempt that. Instead it is meant to serve to allow people to begin to explore other ways of thinking about wellness and health, and possibly to explore a little about how their patients' culture may impact their understanding of what is going on in their bodies.
"Sessions provide students with an opportunity to think about these issues," Ly said.
"Ultimately our aim is to improve health outcomes and health experiences for Aboriginal patients, by providing trainees and future physicians with the skills, attitudes and knowledge to provide competent care to Aboriginal patients."
According to Ly, some universities offer core Aboriginal courses, but the one at U of C is more discreet and focused.
"It is to the advantage of the department to integrate sessions into courses that students are already being evaluated for," Ly explained.
Goodstriker sums it up with a story.
She said awhile ago an Aboriginal boy who had had an accident on a motorized scooter faced the possible amputation of his foot due to an infection.
The doctors thought amputation was the only way, but the boy's parents employed a medicine man from "up north" to come and render service to the boy to the dismay of the doctors.
Goodsriker said the healer used bear grease, traditional song and prayer, and the foot began to heal within a week.
After doctors thought cutting it off was the only way to stop the spread of infection, Goodstriker said it was the combination of traditional medicine and Western antibiotics that saved the boy.
When asked if the skeptical doctors might have a new perspective on treatment after the shamanistic experience, Goodstriker emphatically replied, "I should think so."