Balancing Two Cultures American Indian/Alaska Nat

Authors: John Paul Sánchez Norma PollHunter Nicole Stern Andrea N Garcia Cheryl Brewster

Publish Date: 2016/02/19

Volume: 41, Issue: 4, Pages: 871-880

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Abstract

American Indians and Alaska Natives AI/AN remain underrepresented in the academic medicine workforce and little is known about cultivating AI/AN medical students’ interest in academic medicine careers Five structured focus groups were conducted including 20 medical students and 18 physicians The discussion guide explored factors influencing AI/AN trainees’ academic medicine career interest and recommended approaches to increase their pursuit of academia Consensual qualitative research was employed to analyze transcripts Our research revealed six facilitating factors nine dissuading factors and five recommendations towards cultivating AI/AN pursuit of academia Facilitators included the opportunity to teach serving as a role model/mentor enhancing the AI/AN medical education pipeline opportunities to influence institution collegiality and financial stability Dissuading factors included limited information on academic career paths politics lack of credit for teaching and community service isolation selfdoubt lower salary lack of positions in rural areas lack of focus on clinical care for AI/AN communities and research obligations Recommendations included heighten career awareness recognize the challenges in balancing AI/AN and academic cultures collaborate with IHS on faculty recruitment strategies identify concordant role models/mentors and identify loan forgiveness programs Similar to other diverse medical students’ raising awareness of academic career opportunities especially regarding teaching and community scholarship access to concordant role models/mentors and supportive institutional climates can also foster AI/AN medical students’ pursuit of academia Unique strategies for AI/AN trainees include learning how to balance AI/AN and academic cultures collaborating with IHS on faculty recruitment strategies and increasing faculty opportunities in rural areasWe would like to thank the members staff and leadership of the 2012 Association of American Indian Physicians Annual Conference Anchorage Alaska for assistance with the implementation of the study A special thank you to Juan Amador and Linda Don for assistance with the conduct of the focus groups and coding of the transcripts respectively

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