Do Danish medical students feel prepared to deliver healthcare to patients with backgrounds different from their own? A cross-sectional survey

• Published in: BMC medical education 2024-11, Vol.24 (1), p.1366-9, Article 1366
• Main Authors: Sorensen, J, Hindhede, A L, Ohlendorff, J S, de Montgomery, C J, Maheswaran, S, Norredam, M, Krasnik, A
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Attitude of Health Personnel; Clinical Competence; Competence; Cross Cultural Training; Cross-Sectional Studies; Cultural Diversity; Curricula; Demographic aspects; Denmark; Diversity; Economic Factors; Ethnic Groups; Ethnicity; Female; Health disparities; Health Needs; Health Personnel; Helplessness; Humans; Individual Characteristics; Junior physicians; Learning; Male; Medical care; Medical colleges; Medical education; Medical personnel; Medical students; Migrant Education; Migrants; Migration; Minorities; Minority & ethnic groups; Minority Groups; Minority Groups - statistics & numerical data; Multiculturalism & pluralism; National Surveys; Patients; Physical Examinations; Physicians; Population; Preparedness; Professionals; Questionnaires; Resource Allocation; Self Efficacy; Student Surveys; Students, Medical - psychology; Surveys; Surveys and Questionnaires
• ISSN: 1472-6920; 1472-6920
• DOI: 10.1186/s12909-024-06371-5

Migrant and ethnic minority populations in Europe are growing, leading to a demand for health systems and health educations to accommodate the growing diversity. Research indicates that health professionals feel inadequately prepared to care for diverse populations, and medical education has gaps in addressing these issues. The aim of the study is to explore whether Danish medical students and newly graduated physicians feel prepared to meet the needs of the increasingly diverse populations. An online survey was emailed to students in the four medical Master's programs in Denmark and to newly graduated physicians in clinical internships. Data was collected spring 2023. Descriptive statistics reported overall numbers, and multivariate logistic regression was used to model the association between survey answers and the background variables: semester, gender/sex, parent's education, self-identified ethnicity. Many medical students and newly graduated physicians feel unprepared to care for patients of backgrounds different from their own. For all items women reported feeling more unprepared than men. Among the medical students and newly graduated physicians with enough clinical experience to answer the question, 34.2% reported feeling helpless at times or often in the past year when treating culturally different patients. Men were less likely than women to report feeling helpless (OR = 0.42; 95% CI 0.28 to 0.64); and self-identified ethnic minorities were 2.59 times more likely than Danish/European medical students and newly graduated physicians to report feeling helpless (95% CI 1.32-5.07). Our findings indicate shortcomings in medical students and newly graduated physicians feeling of preparedness to provide care to patients of backgrounds different from their own. These findings can assist medical education management with identifying curriculum gaps.