Ethnography Education to Cultivate Medical Students' Perspectives and Methods for Understanding Others / 医学教育

ABSTRACT

A class to learn ethnographic approach was provided for medical students in the process of clinical clerkship to cultivate perspectives and methods for understanding people with viewpoints and behaviors that are different from theirs. After attending collaborative lectures and exercises by faculty members who specialized in medical anthropology and medical science, medical students conducted participant observation during clinical clerkship, and shared their field notes with other students. In this process, students learned the importance of situating a person's narratives and behaviors within their social and cultural contexts as well as importance of relativizing themselves. This class is considered to be a method for providing tips to medical students on how to interact with a variety of others. This paper also describes the practice of holding remote classes on this topic during the COVID-19 pandemic.