Alicia A DiGiammarino

All Publications

• Interpreter and limited-English proficiency patient training helps develop medical and physician assistant students' cross-cultural communication skills. BMC medical education Nguyen, Q., Flora, J., Basaviah, P., Bryant, M., Hosamani, P., Westphal, J., Kugler, J., Hom, J., Chi, J., Parker, J., DiGiammarino, A. 2024; 24 (1): 185

  Abstract

  The increasing linguistic and cultural diversity in the United States underscores the necessity of enhancing healthcare professionals' cross-cultural communication skills. This study focuses on incorporating interpreter and limited-English proficiency (LEP) patient training into the medical and physician assistant student curriculum. This aims to improve equitable care provision, addressing the vulnerability of LEP patients to healthcare disparities, including errors and reduced access. Though training is recognized as crucial, opportunities in medical curricula remain limited.To bridge this gap, a novel initiative was introduced in a medical school, involving second-year students in clinical sessions with actual LEP patients and interpreters. These sessions featured interpreter input, patient interactions, and feedback from interpreters and clinical preceptors. A survey assessed the perspectives of students, preceptors, and interpreters.Outcomes revealed positive reception of interpreter and LEP patient integration. Students gained confidence in working with interpreters and valued interpreter feedback. Preceptors recognized the sessions' value in preparing students for future clinical interactions.This study underscores the importance of involving experienced interpreters in training students for real-world interactions with LEP patients. Early interpreter training enhances students' communication skills and ability to serve linguistically diverse populations. Further exploration could expand languages and interpretation modes and assess long-term effects on students' clinical performance. By effectively training future healthcare professionals to navigate language barriers and cultural diversity, this research contributes to equitable patient care in diverse communities.

  View details for DOI 10.1186/s12909-024-05173-z

  View details for PubMedID 38395858

  View details for PubMedCentralID 9932446

• Chatbot vs Medical Student Performance on Free-Response Clinical Reasoning Examinations. JAMA internal medicine Strong, E., DiGiammarino, A., Weng, Y., Kumar, A., Hosamani, P., Hom, J., Chen, J. H. 2023

  View details for DOI 10.1001/jamainternmed.2023.2909

  View details for PubMedID 37459090

• California's COVID-19 Virtual Training Academy: Rapid Scale-Up of a Statewide Contact Tracing and Case Investigation Workforce Training Program Frontiers in Public Health Brickley, D. B., Forster, M., Alonis, A., Antonyan, E., Chen, L., DiGiammarino, A., Dorian, A., Dunn, C., Gandelman, A., Grasso, M., Kiureghian, A., Maher, A., Malan, H., Mejia, P., Peare, A., Prelip, M., Shafir, S., White, K., Willard-Grace, R., Reid, M. 2021

  View details for DOI 10.3389/fpubh.2021.706697

• Creating a More Collaborative Tomorrow: Development of a Patient Engagement Curriculum for a School of Nursing and Health Professions DiGiammarino , A. A. USF Scholarship: A Digital Repository @ Gleeson Library. 2018