'A role model is like a mosaic': reimagining URiM students' role models in medical school.

BACKGROUND: Role modelling is a widely acknowledged element of medical education and it is associated with a range of beneficial outcomes for medical students, such as contributing to professional identity development and a sense of belonging. However, for students who are racially and ethnically underrepresented in medicine (URiM), identification with clinical role models may not be self-evident, as they have no shared ethnic background as a basis for social comparison. This study aims to learn more about the role models of URiM students during medical school and about the added value of representative role models. METHODS: In this qualitative study we used a concept-guided approach to explore URiM alumni's experiences with role models during medical school. We conducted semi-structured interviews with ten URiM alumni about their perception of role models, who their own role models were during medical school and why they considered these figures as role models. Sensitizing concepts guided the topic list, interview questions and finally served as deductive codes in the first round of coding. RESULTS: The participants needed time to think about what a role model is and who their own role models are. Having role models was not self-evident as they had never thought about it before, and participants appeared hesitant and uncomfortable discussing representative role models. Eventually, all participants identified not one, but multiple people as their role model. These role models served different functions: role models from outside medical school, such as parents, motivated them to work hard. Clinical role models were fewer and functioned primarily as examples of professional behaviour. The participants experienced a lack of representation rather than a lack of role models. CONCLUSIONS: This study presents us with three ways to reimagine role models in medical education. First, as culturally embedded: having a role model is not as self-evident as it appears in existing role model literature, which is largely based on research conducted in the U.S. Second, as cognitive constructs: the participants engaged in selective imitation, where they did not have one archetypical clinical role model, but rather approach role models as a mosaic of elements from different people. Third, role models carry not only a behavioural but also a symbolical value, the latter of which is particularly important for URiM students because it relies heavier on social comparison.

How should health service organizations respond to diversity? A content analysis of six approaches.

BACKGROUND: Health care organizations need to be responsive to the needs of increasingly diverse patient populations. We compared the contents of six publicly available approaches to organizational responsiveness to diversity. The central questions addressed in this paper are: what are the most consistently recommended issues for health care organizations to address in order to be responsive to the needs of diverse groups that differ from the majority population? How much consensus is there between various approaches? METHODS: We purposively sampled six approaches from the US, Australia and Europe and used qualitative textual analysis to categorize the content of each approach into domains (conceptually distinct topic areas) and, within each domain, into dimensions (operationalizations). The resulting classification framework was used for comparative analysis of the content of the six approaches. RESULTS: We identified seven domains that were represented in most or all approaches: organizational commitment, empirical evidence on inequalities and needs, a competent and diverse workforce, ensuring access for all users, ensuring responsiveness in care provision, fostering patient and community participation, and actively promoting responsiveness. Variations in the operationalization of these domains related to different scopes, contexts and types of diversity. For example, approaches that focus on ethnic diversity mostly provide recommendations to handle cultural and language differences; approaches that take an intersectional approach and broaden their target population to vulnerable groups in a more general sense also pay attention to factors such as socio-economic status and gender. CONCLUSIONS: Despite differences in labeling, there is a broad consensus about what health care organizations need to do in order to be responsive to patient diversity. This opens the way to full scale implementation of organizational responsiveness in healthcare and structured evaluation of its effectiveness in improving patient outcomes.

A students' survey of cultural competence as a basis for identifying gaps in the medical curriculum.

BACKGROUND: Assessing the cultural competence of medical students that have completed the curriculum provides indications on the effectiveness of cultural competence training in that curriculum. However, existing measures for cultural competence mostly rely on self-perceived cultural competence. This paper describes the outcomes of an assessment of knowledge, reflection ability and self-reported culturally competent consultation behaviour, the relation between these assessments and self-perceived cultural competence, and the applicability of the results in the light of developing a cultural competence educational programme. METHODS: 392 medical students, Youth Health Care (YHC) Physician Residents and their Physician Supervisors were invited to complete a web-based questionnaire that assessed three domains of cultural competence: 1) general knowledge of ethnic minority care provision and interpretation services; 2) reflection ability; and 3) culturally competent consultation behaviour. Additionally, respondents graded their overall self-perceived cultural competence on a 1-10 scale. RESULTS: 86 medical students, 56 YHC Residents and 35 YHC Supervisors completed the questionnaire (overall response rate 41%; n= 177). On average, respondents scored low on general knowledge (mean 46% of maximum score) and knowledge of interpretation services (mean 55%) and much higher on reflection ability (80%). The respondents' reports of their consultation behaviour reflected moderately adequate behaviour in exploring patients' perspectives (mean 64%) and in interaction with low health literate patients (mean 60%) while the score on exploring patients' social contexts was on average low (46%). YHC respondents scored higher than medical students on knowledge of interpretation services, exploring patients' perspectives and exploring social contexts. The associations between self-perceived cultural competence and assessed knowledge, reflection ability and consultation behaviour were weak. CONCLUSION: Assessing the cultural competence of medical students and physicians identified gaps in knowledge and culturally competent behaviour. Such data can be used to guide improvement efforts to the diversity content of educational curricula. Based on this study, improvements should focus on increasing knowledge and improving diversity-sensitive consultation behaviour and less on reflection skills. The weak association between overall self-perceived cultural competence and assessed knowledge, reflection ability and consultation behaviour supports the hypothesis that measures of sell-perceived competence are insufficient to assess actual cultural competence.

Deficiencies in culturally competent asthma care for ethnic minority children: a qualitative assessment among care providers.

BACKGROUND: Asthma outcomes are generally worse for ethnic minority children. Cultural competence training is an instrument for improving healthcare for ethnic minority patients. To develop effective training, we explored the mechanisms in paediatric asthma care for ethnic minority patients that lead to deficiencies in the care process. METHODS: We conducted semi-structured interviews on care for ethnic minority children with asthma (aged 4-10 years) with paediatricians (n = 13) and nurses (n = 3) in three hospitals. Interviews were analysed qualitatively with a framework method, using a cultural competence model. RESULTS: Respondents mentioned patient non-adherence as the central problem in asthma care. They related non-adherence in children from ethnic minority backgrounds to social context factors, difficulties in understanding the chronic nature of asthma, and parents' language barriers. Reactions reported by respondents to patients' non-adherence included retrieving additional information, providing biomedical information, occasionally providing referrals for social context issues, and using informal interpreters. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides keys to improve the quality of specialist paediatric asthma care to ethnic minority children, mainly related to non-adherence. Care providers do not consciously recognise all the mechanisms that lead to deficiencies in culturally competent asthma care they provide to ethnic minority children (e.g. communicating mainly from a biomedical perspective and using mostly informal interpreters). Therefore, the learning objectives of cultural competence training should reflect issues that care providers are aware of as well as issues they are unaware of.

Teaching communication with ethnic minority patients: ten recommendations.

INTRODUCTION: Culturally competent communication is indispensable for medical practice in an ethnically diverse society. This article offers recommendations to teach such communication skills based on the experiences of members of a Dutch NMVO Special Interest Group on 'Diversity'. METHOD: A questionnaire with three open-ended questions on recommendations for training in culturally competent communication was sent to all members (n = 35). Returned questionnaires (n = 23) were analysed qualitatively with a thematic coding framework based on educational themes emerging from the data. RECOMMENDATIONS: All students need to be educated in culturally competent communication. Teachers should stimulate awareness of personal biases and an open attitude. Teach the three core communication skills, listening, exploring and checking, and offer practice with a professional interpreter. Knowledge content should focus on mechanisms relevant to various ethnic groups. Offer students a variety of experiences in a safe environment. All involved should be aware that stereotyping is a pitfall. DISCUSSION: Training in communication skills for consultation with ethnic minority patients cannot be separated from teaching issues of awareness and knowledge. The shared views on the content of these communication trainings are in line with general patient-centred approaches. The development of proper training in this field demands specific efforts of those involved.

Cultural competence: a conceptual framework for teaching and learning.

OBJECTIVES: The need to address cultural and ethnic diversity issues in medical education as a means to improve the quality of care for all has been widely emphasised. Cultural competence has been suggested as an instrument with which to deal with diversity issues. However, the implementation of culturally competent curricula appears to be difficult. We believe the development of curricula would profit from a framework that provides a practical translation of abstract educational objectives and that is related to competencies underlying the medical curriculum in general. This paper proposes such a framework. METHODS: The framework illustrates the following cultural competencies: knowledge of epidemiology and the differential effects of treatment in various ethnic groups; awareness of how culture shapes individual behaviour and thinking; awareness of the social context in which specific ethnic groups live; awareness of one's own prejudices and tendency to stereotype; ability to transfer information in a way the patient can understand and to use external help (e.g. interpreters) when needed, and ability to adapt to new situations flexibly and creatively. DISCUSSION: The framework indicates important aspects in taking care of an ethnically diverse patient population. It shows that there are more dimensions to delivering high-quality care than merely the cultural. Most cultural competencies emphasise a specific aspect of a generic competency that is of extra importance when dealing with patients from different ethnic groups. We hope our framework contributes to the further development of cultural competency in medical curricula.

Intercultural communication through the eyes of patients: experiences and preferences.

OBJECTIVES: To explore patients' preferences and experiences regarding intercultural communication which could influence the development of intercultural patient-centred communication training. METHODS: This qualitative study is based on interviews with non-native patients. Thirty non-native patients were interviewed between September and December 2015 about their preferences and experiences regarding communication with a native Dutch doctor. Fourteen interviews were established with an interpreter. The semi-structured interviews took place in Amsterdam. They were focused on generic and intercultural communication skills of doctors. Relevant fragments were coded by two researchers and analysed by the research team by means of thematic network analysis. Informed consent and ethical approval was obtained beforehand. RESULTS: All patients preferred a doctor with a professional patient-centred attitude regardless of the doctor's background. Patients mentioned mainly generic communication aspects, such as listening, as important skills and seemed to be aware of their own responsibility in participating in a consultation. Being treated as a unique person and not as a disease was also frequently mentioned. Unfamiliarity with the Dutch healthcare system influenced the experienced communication negatively. However, a language barrier was considered the most important problem, which would become less pressing once a doctor-patient relation was established. CONCLUSIONS: Remarkably, patients in this study had no preference regarding the ethnic background of the doctor. Generic communication was experienced as important as specific intercultural communication, which underlines the marginal distinction between these two. A close link between intercultural communication and patient-centred communication was reflected in the expressed preference 'to be treated as a person'.

Shared decision-making in an intercultural context. Barriers in the interaction between physicians and immigrant patients.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this exploratory paper is to describe several barriers in shared decision-making in an intercultural context. METHODS: Based on the prevailing literature on intercultural communication in medical settings, four conceptual barriers were described. When the conceptual barriers were described, they were compared with the results from semi-structured interviews with purposively selected physicians (n = 18) and immigrant patients (n = 13). Physicians differed in medical discipline (GPs, company doctors, an internist, a cardiologist, a gynaecologist, and an intern) and patients had different ethnic and immigration backgrounds. RESULTS: The following barriers were found: (1) physician and patient may not share the same linguistic background; (2) physician and patient may not share similar values about health and illness; (3) physician and patient may not have similar role expectations; and (4) physician and patient may have prejudices and do not speak to each other in an unbiased manner. CONCLUSION: We conclude that due to these barriers, the transfer of information, the formulation of the diagnosis, and the discussion of treatment options are at stake and the shared decision-making process is impeded. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Improving physician's skills to recognize the communication limitations during shared decision-making as well as improving the skills to deal with the barriers may help to ameliorate shared decision-making in an intercultural setting.

Intercultural doctor-patient communication in daily outpatient care: relevant communication skills.

INTRODUCTION: Intercultural communication (ICC) between doctors and patients is often associated with misunderstandings and dissatisfaction. To develop ICC-specific medical education, it is important to find out which ICC skills medical specialists currently apply in daily clinical consultations. METHODS: Doctor-patient consultations of Dutch doctors with non-Dutch patients were videotaped in a multi-ethnic hospital in the Netherlands. The consultations were analyzed using the validated MAAS-Global assessment list in combination with factors influencing ICC, as described in the literature. RESULTS: In total, 39 videotaped consultations were analyzed. The doctors proved to be capable of practising many communication skills, such as listening and empathic communication behaviour. Other skills were not practised, such as being culturally aware and checking the patient's language ability. CONCLUSION: We showed that doctors did practice some but not all the relevant ICC skills and that the ICC style of the doctors was mainly biomedically centred. Furthermore, we discussed the possible overlap between intercultural and patient-centred communication. Implications for practice could be to implement the relevant ICC skills in the existing communication training or develop a communication training with a patient-centred approach including ICC skills.

Analyzing Fallacies in Argumentation to Enhance Effectiveness of Educational Interventions: The Case of Care Providers' Arguments Against Using Professional Interpretation.

INTRODUCTION: Although research has shown that professional interpreters improve health care to patients who do not speak the same language as their care provider, care providers underuse professional interpretation services. To get more insight into the reasons of care providers to underuse professional interpreters, we studied fallacies in their arguments. Fallacies in reasoning may explain why care providers avoid changing their behavior even if they are aware of evidence in favor of such behavior. METHODS: We did a secondary analysis of interviews about immigrant patients with care providers collected in two studies on in-hospital pediatric care. Interviews (N = 37) were held in 2009, in the Netherlands. Interviews were analyzed using a contextual approach to fallacious argumentation: a method that can identify fallacies as "wrong" arguments compared with the context in they are made. RESULTS: We identified six main fallacies that care providers used to argue that they prefer not to use a professional interpreter while having free access to professional interpreters: 1) There are also some negative side effects to using professional interpreters, 2) there is no language problem, 3) it is such an enormous hassle to organize it, 4) I am a good doctor, 5) my medical information is not complex, and 6) patients do not want it. DISCUSSION: Familiarizing care providers with these fallacies can raise their awareness of the wrong arguments to defend their underuse of professional interpreters and can be made part of their training.

How should ethnic diversity be represented in medical curricula? A plea for systematic training in cultural competence.

Ethnic diversity has become a common reality in European societies, including those of Germany and the Netherlands. Given that ethnic minority groups and immigrants are known to be especially vulnerable to inequalities in health, access to services and quality of care, the need for cultural competency training in medical education is widely acknowledged. This paper presents four key issues in providing medical students and physicians with the knowledge, attitudes and skills to adapt medical care to ethnically diverse populations. It then describes two educational programmes delivered by the University of Amsterdam (UvA Academic Medical Centre, the Netherlands) and Giessen University Medical School (Germany), respectively, to illustrate that translating theoretical educational objectives into educational practice can lead to different teaching programmes depending on specific local conditions. In the conclusions, emphasis is placed on the need for systematic approaches that do not limit their focus to patients and groups of specific ethnic or migration backgrounds. Issues of culture, communication and research in relation to ethnically diverse populations are magnifications of general problems in medicine and healthcare. Explicit attention to ethnic diversity thus offers a view through a 'magnifying glass' of subjects of much broader importance and can be a means for improving health care in general.

Cultural competence among nurse practitioners working with asylum seekers.

Asylum seekers often have complex medical needs. Little is known about the cultural competences health care providers should have in their contact with asylum seekers in order to meet their needs. Cultural competence is generally defined as a combination of knowledge about certain cultural groups, as well as attitudes towards and skills for dealing with cultural diversity. Given asylum seekers' specific care needs, it may be asked whether this set of general competences is adequate for the medical contact with asylum seekers. We explored the cultural competences that nurse practitioners working with asylum seekers thought were important. A purposive sample of 89 nurse practitioners in the Netherlands completed a questionnaire. In addition, six group interviews with nurse practitioners were also conducted. A framework analysis was used to analyse the data of the questionnaires and the interviews. From the analysis, several specific competences emerged, which were required for the medical contact with asylum seekers: knowledge of the political situation in the country of origin; knowledge with regard to diseases common in the country of origin; knowledge of the effects of refugeehood on health; awareness of the juridical context in the host country; ability to deal with asylum seekers' traumatic experiences; and skills to explain the host country's health care system. Apart from these cultural competences specific for the situation of asylum seekers, general cultural competences were also seen as important, such as the ability to use interpretation services. We conclude that insight into these cultural competences may help to develop related education and training for health care providers working with asylum seekers.