Medical residents consider cross-cultural issues important in providing care: doctors confident of treating patients from diverse backgrounds, but cite lack of information.(Health Care Disparities)

Publication: Medicine & Health

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COPYRIGHT 2005 Eli Research, Inc.

Although new physicians are concerned with cross-cultural issues in treating patients, most do not receive formal training in providing care to patients from diverse cultures during their residencies, two Commonwealth Fund-supported studies concluded.

The Institute of Medicine's "Unequal Treatment," a report issued in 2002, had cited cross-cultural training as a mechanism to address racial and ethnic disparities in health care, but little was known about residents' training and capabilities to provide quality care to diverse populations. As reported in a study published in the September edition of Academic Medicine, "Mixed Messages: Residents' Experiences Learning Cross-Cultural Care," researchers conducted focus groups and interviews with 68 residents from across the country to explore preparedness to deliver cross-cultural care and to assess the educational climate.

Generally, residents felt that cross-cultural care was in fact a low priority in their curricula due to...

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