INDIANAPOLIS – A rising number of new doctors trained in other countries has meant a booming business for an international communications program at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.
The Indiana Center for Intercultural Communication, which helps international faculty in all disciplines with language skills, provides training as part of orientation for IU’s family medicine residents. Center staff also work with businesses that want employees to improve their English.
IU officials say the program helps newly minted doctors overcome language and cultural barriers as they begin their careers.
“We’re in an environment so driven by the perception that language equals intelligence,” Dr. Sharree Grannis, IU’s family medicine program director, told The Indianapolis Star.
Grannis said patients or colleagues might assume that someone who speaks with an accent may not have the same ability as American-born and trained physicians.
“Our residents from international backgrounds have to work harder to prove their intelligence.”
Less than half of the medical students accepted into family medicine residency programs nationwide this year received their degrees from U.S. medical schools, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians. About 80 percent of the residents in IU’s family medicine program receive their degrees from foreign institutions.
