Multiculturalism in Healthcare: A Review of Current Research into Diversity Found in the Healthcare Professional Population and the Patient Population

Authors

  • Nicole Tan Guy's, King's and St Thomas' School of Medical Education, King's College London, UK.
  • Shuangyu Li Guy's, King's and St Thomas' School of Medical Education, King's College London, UK

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/ijms.2016.163

Keywords:

Cultural Competency, Health Services Accessibility, Health Services Needs and Demand, Humans; Language

Abstract

Culture plays a key role in the way health is perceived and the way healthcare is used. It has been seen that there are many barriers to accessing healthcare, particularly for those who come to the UK with a different background language, religion and healthcare structure. A literature review and content analysis has been performed using 60 articles, selected from the databases PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science, in order to expose how diverse the patient and healthcare professional population truly are, the number of barriers to healthcare and how one can improve access to become culturally competent. Although this is only a small sample of the material present, it is evident that at the present time physical amenities such as having a translator present, as well the training of the healthcare professionals to be able to make the most of the situation and see the patients in a holistic and biopsychosocial approach, reveal an important area to focus more on in practice as well as in research. Thus an increased availability of resources and training needs to be made available for both patients and healthcare professionals in order to ensure competence in accessing healthcare services

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Author Biography

Nicole Tan, Guy's, King's and St Thomas' School of Medical Education, King's College London, UK.

Nicole Tan is currently a third-year medical student at the Guy’s, King’s and St Thomas’s Medical School, King’s College London. She took a year out of the 5-year MBBS programme last year to intercalate in Clinical Pharmacology and Translational Medicine.

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Published

2016-12-27

How to Cite

Tan, N., & Li, S. (2016). Multiculturalism in Healthcare: A Review of Current Research into Diversity Found in the Healthcare Professional Population and the Patient Population. International Journal of Medical Students, 4(3), 112–119. https://doi.org/10.5195/ijms.2016.163

Issue

Vol. 4 No. 3 (2016)

Section

Review

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