RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Cultural diversity training for UK healthcare professionals: a comprehensive nationwide cross-sectional survey
JF Clinical Medicine
JO Clin Med
FD Royal College of Physicians
SP 493
OP 497
DO 10.7861/clinmedicine.8-5-493
VO 8
IS 5
A1 Paul Bentley
A1 Ana Jovanovic
A1 Pankaj Sharma
YR 2008
UL http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/8/5/493.abstract
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.