Researchers in Madison are partnering with a Milwaukee-based Latino community center on a new, culturally competent elective course for students at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. The course is focused on training the next generation of doctors in dementia care for the Latino community.
The UW–Madison research team will collaborate with leaders and dementia experts from the Latino Geriatric Center Memory Clinic, which is a service of the United Community Center in Milwaukee. The elective is slated to pilot this year and is designed to allow medical students an opportunity to learn critical education, strategies and tools they can use to provide care for Latino individuals who experience difficulty accessing care for dementia due to language and cultural differences, according to Dr. Maria Mora Pinzon, assistant professor of medicine, UW School of Medicine and Public Health, who leads the research team.
This medical education topic is crucial for future generations of physicians because the number of Latinos impacted by dementia is expected to increase by 900% over the next 30 years, she said.
“It takes about 15 years to train a doctor, so we need to start now to meet the demand that is coming,” Mora Pinzon said. “There is no way for a person to get adequate medical care if their provider is not trained to understand the needs of the patient they are serving.”
The elective course will include areas such as cultural competence, cultural adaptations, health disparities and effective communication strategies, along with examples of Spanish-based memory screenings and post-diagnostic care and resources, according to Mora Pinzon.
Despite the higher rates of disease, there are higher rates of under-diagnosis or misdiagnosis for Latino individuals
- Maria Mora Pinzon, MD
An older Latino individual is 1.5 times more likely to develop dementia than an older white person, but there are often barriers to diagnosis, she said.
“Despite the higher rates of disease, there are higher rates of under-diagnosis or misdiagnosis for Latino individuals,” she said. “Lack of medical providers with adequate training in the diagnosis of dementia in Latino individuals is a big reason why.”
Testing is another barrier. Knowing the individual’s cultural background is important. For example, cognitive testing for dementia may ask an individual to list as many fruits or vegetables as possible. The Spanish word for banana can mean fruit or vegetable depending on what country you are from, so that could lead to misinterpretation of the results, Mora Pinzon said.
Another testing example with cultural background implications occurs when an individual is asked to draw a house. The individual might draw a house on top of a lake, which might seem incorrect, but homes like that are common in certain places in South America, she said.
The UCC Latino Geriatric Center is part of the Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Institute Dementia Diagnostic Clinic Network, which is a group of memory care clinics across the state. Staff at these clinics work with experts at UW–Madison to develop diagnostic services for individuals and support for caregivers.
This new elective course addresses barriers to diagnosis and care faced by the Latino community, according to Al Castro, program director of the United Community Center and a partner on the education project with Mora Pinzon.
Castro said this elective has emerged from a 17-year partnership between the UCC, the Medical College of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Institute. He looks forward to helping more Latino patients and family caregivers by supporting the education of future physicians in dementia care by sharing lessons learned over the years.
“This education can help alleviate some of the language and cultural barriers, along with anxiety and confusion encountered by Latinos living with dementia who are seeking help,” Castro said. “By helping to educate future physicians on facilitating earlier access to culturally appropriate dementia care assessments and resources, we are hopefully allowing families to better manage living with the disease in the home as long as possible.”
This project was made possible by an educational innovation grant from the Department of Medicine at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health. Future expansion is the goal, Mora Pinzon said.
“We hope offering this training can help the next generation and expand to the rest of the state and beyond,” she said.
