PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Paul Bentley
AU  - Ana Jovanovic
AU  - Pankaj Sharma
TI  - Cultural diversity training for UK healthcare professionals: a comprehensive nationwide cross-sectional survey
AID  - 10.7861/clinmedicine.8-5-493
DP  - 2008 Oct 01
TA  - Clinical Medicine
PG  - 493--497
VI  - 8
IP  - 5
4099  - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/8/5/493.short
4100  - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/8/5/493.full
SO  - Clin Med2008 Oct 01; 8
AB  - Healthcare inequalities within the UK based on patients’ ethnicity have been found over the last five years in a large number of medical specialties. One possible explanation for this lies in ignorance of ethnic minority healthcare needs among professionals. Cultural diversity programmes have been shown to improve patient outcomes including compliance, yet these are not as yet requirements for any UK healthcare professionals with the exception of psychiatrists. This paper documents the frequency, regional variation, characteristics and motivations for cultural diversity training through a questionnaire survey of the educational leads of every UK medical school, postgraduate deanery and schools of nursing, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, and pharmacy. The results showed a wide variation in teaching practices between healthcare professions and geographical regions. This study provides evidence for the need for national guidelines to incorporate cultural competency training by all UK healthcare professional training bodies.