Alexander M. Cinemeducation: An Innovative Approach to Teaching Multi-Cultural Diversity in Medicine. Annals of Behavioral Science and Medical Education 1995; 2(1):23-28.

• The Kaiser Permanente/California Endowment Clinical Cultural Competency Video Series . In 2000, Kaiser Permanente, with funding from The California Endowment, embarked on a project to create “trigger” videos as teaching tools for training healthcare professionals in cultural competence. The Project Director was Jean Gilbert, PhD, a medical anthropologist, and Jo Ann Lesser, Producer, a media specialist. Directing were Rod Gerber and Lisa Beezely Lipman, of the Kaiser Permanente C.A.R.E. Actors. These now completed videos comprise three sets, each with accompanying facilitator’s guide and contextual materials. Each set costs $35.00 or $105 for all 20. The scenarios are from eight to fourteen minutes long. The actors, all professionals living in Los Angeles, are highly diverse in age, gender, ethnicity, and race. The videos have won many prizes at various international film and video festivals.

• The first of the video series is “Cultural Issues in the Clinical Setting, Parts A & B.  This consists of ten trigger “case studies,” 5 of which deal with obstetrical themes, such as lesbian parents; Hmong birth practices; gender and acculturation issues in Iranian immigrants; a Latina diabetic in labor; and a circumcised Somali woman in labor. Other issues covered in the video are: problems with using family interpreters; Southeast Asian refugee psychosomatic issues; sickle cell problems with a black teenager in the E.R; conflicting cultural values between parents and physicians in a pediatric asthma case, problems with a digital rectal exam with a black male patient; and a gay teen-ager coming out to his family practice physician.

• The second is the “Multicultural Health Series, Part I.: four videos with accompanying materials. Topics are: changes in an elderly patient’s care provider; an elderly Navajo faces surgery; an Orthodox Jewish couple has a Saturday baby; and a pediatrician learning to use telephonic interpreting. “Changes” about an elderly man and his new South Asian doctor, won the World Gold Medal as best in its category at the New York International Film and Video Festival in 2004.

• The third is “Multicultural Health Series, Part II.  This consists of six videos and accompanying materials. Topics: an American physician mediates issues around the death of a young Malaysian Chinese girl with her family; a physician assistant confronts the family abuse of a South  Asian woman; a middle-class white male physician and a working-class male heart attack patient experience communication difficulties; a medical team works through compliance and medication issues with Afghan refugees; a doctor finds that his semi-literate but well-intentioned Columbian immigrant patient and her husband are using a plethora of South American drugs in addition to their prescribed medications;  and a physician assistant helps his pregnant Latina patient find a way to deal with her STD re-infection problem.

• All scripts and scenes were reviewed by an Advisory Board comprised of physicians, nurses, health educators and other health personnel of varying ethnicity.

• While the topics described above are the major foci of each video, the scenarios have been designed to raise many ancillary questions and issues for numerous “teachable moments.” The casts are very multicultural and represent many clinical disciplines. The extensive contextual materials are carefully researched and accurate. The video debrief questions guide the facilitator in focusing the discussion on the numerous issues raised in the videos. There are additional resources pertaining to each video that can be accessed by the facilitator or assigned to participants. The printed materials are sent on a CD-Rom disc.

• Each video module can be used singly or in combination with others, depending upon the time requirements.  For example, a single video can be used for a 30-45 minute educational session. An entire day-long workshop can be constructed, using the videos as baseline materials and combining them with other talks, exercises, etc. that the facilitator wants to introduce.

• The whole series, consisting of 20 video vignettes and accompanying materials is $105. Each set can be bought separately at $35.00 per set.

• Send orders to:
  Gus Gaona
  Kaiser Permanente
  National Media Communications: Media Distribution
  825 ColoradoAve., Suite 300
  Los Angeles, CA 90041
  Phone: 323-259-4776

Cultural Competency Challenge CD-ROM Educational Program (AAOS Product #02735). American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, 6300 North River Road, Rosemont, IL 60018-4262 (website: www.aaos.org/challenge).