Elyse Park et al.
Academic Medicine
September 2005, Vol. 80, Issue #9, pg. 874-880.
Review by: Linda Heun, Ph.D. <lheun@aacom.org>
Focus groups and individual interviews were conducted with 68 residents across the nation to find the key issues in residents' perceptions of preparedness to delivery care to diverse patients, educational climate, and training experiences.
While there was no clear consensus on the knowledge base residents thought was needed to deliver cross-cultural care and they were concerned about developing stereotypes, the following topics were mentioned the importance of understanding 1) a given patient's family structure and present living situation, 2) the role of religion, 3) cultural mores on child discipline and domestic violence, 4) views on alternative medicine and past medical experiences, and 5) view of end-of-life care and preventive medicine. Most consensus was found regarding necessary attitudes for cross-cultural care including 1) the value of cross-cultural care, 2) concern about stereotyping, and 3) awareness of own beliefs. Finally, the skills most often mentioned were 1) overcoming literacy and language barriers, 2) overcoming cultural barriers, and 3) ability to build trust.
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