Reflections on a community health elective in Native Hawaiian Health: a community-centred vision for health and the medical profession in Indigenous contexts.

Abstract

The medical profession is fundamentally thought of as a vocation and calling, one that requires the translation of knowledge and skill into counselling, diagnosis and interventions that benefit the lives of patients. Physicians and healthcare professionals have the immense privilege to compassionately use their vocation to improve the health of communities. What does this commitment look like in an Indigenous health setting? Using the author's own experience as a participant-observer in the University of Hawaii's John A. Burns School of Medicine's Native Hawaiian Health elective, an example is provided of an educational curriculum that seeks to integrate community health in Native Hawaiian settings. This paper shows the ways that the author's understanding of health broadened to include environmental stewardship and healthcare professionals' compassion and involvement in the life of the community throughout the elective. By providing this example, the author seeks to shed light on how a medical education initiative can change the way students approach Indigenous health.