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Study: Many residents unprepared to treat diverse patient groups

Quality Improvement Monitor, September 8, 2005

Many resident physicians believe they are unprepared to adequately communicate with patients from different cultural backgrounds, according to a report in the September 7 Journal of the American Medical Association.

Residents say they are not being trained appropriately to cope with growing diverse populations, Newsday reported. Many residents say they need better training to understand the cultural, ethnic, racial, and religious differences they encounter during their work, the newspaper reported.

One out of four physicians surveyed in the study said they were unprepared to deal with patients who held beliefs at odds with Western medicine or who were recent immigrants, Newsday said. Another 20% said they were not prepared to address patients whose religious beliefs impacted their medical care.

Half of the physicians surveyed said they received little or no training during their residencies to help them provide culturally sensitive care, including how to address patients from different cultures and understand religious customs, the newspaper reported.

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