Global Family Medicine: A 'UNIVERSAL' Mnemonic.

In this essay, I borrow the idea of universal precautions from infection control and suggest that family physicians use a set of considerations, based on the mnemonic UNIVERSAL, to nurture cultural humility, enter a metaphoric "space-in-between" in cross-cultural encounters, and foster global fluency. These UNIVERSAL considerations I base on my experiences in global family medicine, attending to economically poor and socially marginalized patients in both international and domestic settings. They are informed by readings in transcultural psychiatry, medical anthropology, development studies, and primary care. I invite others involved in global family medicine to reflect on what they have learned along their own professional paths, so as to enhance their therapeutic abilities as global family physicians, wherever they may be.