When it comes to medical school orientation, students expect to meet equally anxious peers, hear a rundown of the curriculum, and get to know the professors and advisors who will guide them. However, that day will be a little different for first-year students at University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine. "We are doing a poverty simulation as part of our orientation," reveals Shirley Smith, director of student diversity and enrichment at University of South Florida (USF). "Students will be placed into family units and experience a month in the life of a family on a limited, fixed income. They will see what it's like to try to make ends meet and just keep your family intact and housed."
The goal of this simulation is simple: to reveal the often-experienced social impediments to health, and in the process, teach these future doctors to care, in addition to cure.
Physician-Focused Solution
A growing number of medical schools are intent on reducing the racial disparities by raising awareness of the social determinants of health: issues such as lack of transportation, food insecurity, housing, poverty, and isolation that play a critical role in a patient's life and ability to get care. "Doctors need to understand the medical consequences of social disparities, know how to address them, learn where they came from and how to change that," says Sarita Warrier, MD, interim associate dean for medical education at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.
