When “Patient-Centered” is Not Enough: A Call for Community-Centered Medicine

Before entering medicine, I was inspired by community organizing as a model for driving social change and improving public health. As a clinician, I remain inspired by this approach; however, I find that it has been more challenging to integrate into my day-to-day work than I expected. In this essay, I describe my journey from community organizer to primary care clinician and reflect on the lessons I’ve learned about the value of community organizing and ways that it can be incorporated into clinical practice. Ultimately, I propose a model for how clinicians and health centers can proactively partner with community organizing groups and facilitate referrals to help patients directly engage in transforming the root causes of their health challenges. This model shifts the focus from the patient as an individual agent of change to the community, and offers important lessons to clinicians interested in community health equity