Measuring Medical Students' Preparedness and Skills to Provide Cross-Cultural Care.

Autor:	Green AR; Division of General Internal Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts., Chun MBJ; Department of Surgery, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii., Cervantes MC; Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of California-San Francisco, San Francisco, California., Nudel JD; Department of Surgery, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts., Duong JV; Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, Connecticut., Krupat E; Center for Evaluation, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts., Betancourt JR; Disparities Solutions Center, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
Jazyk:	angličtina
Zdroj:	Health equity [Health Equity] 2017 Jan 01; Vol. 1 (1), pp. 15-22. Date of Electronic Publication: 2017 Jan 01 (Print Publication: 2017).
DOI:	10.1089/heq.2016.0011
Abstrakt:	Purpose: Cross-cultural education is an integral and required part of undergraduate medical curricula. However, the teaching of cross-cultural care varies widely and methods of evaluation are lacking. We sought to better understand medical students' perspectives on their own cultural competency across the 4-year curriculum using a validated survey instrument. Methods: We conducted an annual Internet-based survey at Harvard Medical School with students in all 4 years of training, for four consecutive years. We used a tool previously validated with residents and slightly modified it for medical students, assessing their (1) preparedness, (2) skillfulness, and (3) perspectives on the educational curriculum and learning climate. Results: Of 2592 possible survey responses, we received 1561 (60% response rate). Fourth-year students had significantly higher scores than first-year students ( p <0.001) for all but one preparedness item (caring for transgender patients) and all but one skillfulness item (identifying ability to read/write English). Less than 50% of students felt adequately prepared/skilled by their fourth year on 8 of 11 preparedness items and 5 of 10 skillfulness items. Lack of practical experience caring for diverse patients was the most frequently cited challenge. Conclusions: While students reported that preparedness and skillfulness to care for culturally diverse patients seem to increase with training, fourth-year students still felt inadequately prepared and skilled in many important aspects of cross-cultural care. Medical schools can use this tool with students to self-assess cultural competency and to help guide enhancements to their curricula focusing on cross-cultural care. Competing Interests: No competing financial interests exist.
Databáze:	MEDLINE
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