Working With Burmese Patients: Understanding Historical and Cultural Contexts to Improve Health Care Access and Health Status

Abstract

Introduction Burmese patients resettled in the United States as refugees constitute one of the country's largest refugee populations. As health inequities within the wider Asian and Asian American population have garnered more attention, medical professionals have worked to better understand how to provide care to Burmese and Burmese American patients. This workshop addresses the pressing need to provide culturally responsive care to this growing population. Methods Our interactive 60-minute workshop was developed to increase the knowledge and confidence of health care providers and trainees regarding the specific needs of Burmese communities in the United States. It was implemented once in person and twice virtually. The workshop included a PowerPoint presentation and case studies. Pre- and postworkshop evaluation forms assessed the effectiveness of the module. Results The workshop's 70 attendees included an interdisciplinary group of medical students, academic faculty, graduate students, and health care staff. Following module completion, all learning objectives were met. Paired-samples t tests revealed significant increases in average number of correct responses for all learning objectives. Discussion This module is part of a larger initiative to provide current and future health care providers with information to empower them to supply culturally responsive care to Burmese and Burmese American patients and their families. We offer recommendations for improving care for this patient population on individual, provider, and systemic levels. We hope that this module will inspire opportunities to advocate for change in policy and health care/research funding for Burmese and Burmese American patients.

Keywords

• Asian Americans
• Refugees
• Cultural Competence
• Social Determinants of Health
• Diversity
• Equity