Christen Johnson, a 2023 graduate of the EdD in Educational and Professional Practice, published her dissertation titled, The MONROE Method: A Methodology on Navigating Race, Oppression, and Equity in Medical Education through Physician Cultural Responsibility.
Through the transformative research paradigm and transformative learning theory, a mixed-methods study of deidentified qualitative and quantitative data, Johnson used analytical software to research physician burnout and how the Physician Cultural Responsibility practice can be integrated into medical education.
The practice of Physician Cultural Responsibility provides a means to overcome health disparities and support physicians while embracing the intersectionality of the populations they serve. As there is no standardized curriculum to address teaching the practice of Physician Cultural Responsibility, Johnson’s study aims to evaluate a proposed curriculum for the adoption of Physician Cultural Responsibility into students’ physician professional identity, student experience, and knowledge transfer. This includes inclusive and culturally responsive pedagogy aimed at supporting the students’ development of skills that improve the patient-physician connection with all patients, hoping to limit the impact of personal biases on medical practice and dismantle the social categorization of medicine.
Results suggest that the successful adoption of Physician Cultural Responsibility in physician identity development, successful knowledge transfer, as well as improvements in collaboration, belonging, and support in student experiences within first-year medical students is essential for the practice to be lifelong. Johnson hopes the practice of Physician Cultural Responsibility and its adoption in physician professional identity yields an opportunity to create the culture change necessary within medicine to improve equitable patient-centered care for all patients, overcome health disparities, and support physicians through the challenges of medical practice.
A champion for health equity, scholar-practitioner, and board-certified family physician, Johnson’s clinical practice in family medicine is rooted in equitable practice, lifestyle medicine, and seeking system interventions that bring healing to patients, their families, and communities. She lives the phrase “To whom much is given, much is required” through her career in leadership and dedication to serving the most vulnerable communities and educating others to do the same.
Learn more about Johnson and read her dissertation, The MONROE Method: A Methodology on Navigating Race, Oppression, and Equity in Medical Education through Physician Cultural Responsibility, here.
