Cultural Competence in the nursing, dentistry, and medicine professional curricula: a qualitative review

Abstract

Background Cultural competence development in the formative process of healthcare professionals is crucial for the provision of culturally appropriate health care. This educational issue is highly relevant in the growing multicultural composition of southern Chile. The objective of this study was to examine how the healthcare professions curricula at the Universidad de La Frontera, in La Araucanía Region, prepares future professionals to respond to patients' cultural needs. Method A sequential transformative mixed methods design composed of two phases was carried out. Phase 1 reviewed all printed material and documentation to explore content that developed cross-cultural skills and competencies in the curricula. In Phase 2 semi-structured interviews were conducted with academics with responsibilities for the development of the curriculum in each career, to detect how academics envisage the incorporation of cultural competence in the curricula. Results Regarding curricular contents, findings indicated that the healthcare professions curricula at The Universidad de La Frontera have similar approaches to the inclusion of CCT in subjects’ syllabuses, with inclusion of the different CCT, particularly in the Dental and Medical curricula. However, this coverage showed significant variations in the undergraduate healthcare curricula. The analysis revealed that themes around the Ethics and human values for professional practice; the Psychosocial and cultural determinants of health; the Relationship health-family-community, and to a lesser extent, the Clinician-patient relationship were well covered in the courses. On the other hand, Inequalities in health was the theme with the least contact time in all three courses. Academics called for a better organisation of the inclusion of CCT in the curricula. They also highlighted the challenges of maintaining the dominant paradigm underlying healthcare models, practices, and orientations within the academic staff and health discipline. Conclusion Curricula contents findings indicate that the healthcare professions curricula at Universidad de La Frontera have similar approaches to the inclusion of CCT in subjects’ syllabuses. However, its depth of coverage allows for improvements. The systematization of CCT and teaching–learning methodologies in healthcare professions curricula is necessary to develop formative processes that allow future professionals to be aware of and respectful with patients’ cultural characteristics and needs.

The development of cultural competences in nursing students and their significance in shaping the future work environment: a pilot study

“…Establishing a transcultural nursing curriculum in health education, which is predominantly biomedically driven and rarely encourages enough self-reflection on social and cultural curricular content and context of care despite advocating for an inclusive approach, presents a challenge in many educational settings worldwide [ 24 ]. In this study, we examined the self-assessed levels of cultural competence in undergraduate nursing students.…”

Development of Multiculturalism Values in Religious Education And its Implications for Multicultural and Democratic Student Ethics

“…The next possibility, the scriptwriter lacked an understanding of multicultural education so he did not try to insert the message of multicultural education in the PAI SMA material at all (Klenner et al, 2022).…”

“…A more comprehensive definition of multicultural education is education that provides equal rights and treatment for the plurality (difference) of students in terms of caste, ideology, colour, ethnicity, ethnicity, ethnicity, religion, nation, language, culture, customs, beliefs, gender, physical, socio-economic status, as well as intelligence and other differences. So, briefly, multicultural education is pluralism in the plurality and heterogeneity of learners (Klenner et al, 2022;N. A. Latif & Ghani, 2023).…”

Intercultural sensitivity in Chilean healthcare profession students

“…Additionally, the study will explore how cultural competency is in uenced by the curriculum as they progress through their health training, using the rst and last year as an approximation (proxy) of the length of exposure. These perceptions of IS, together with the review of the cultural challenges faced in implementing healthcare curricula in the context of a diverse patient base (13), may inform future curricular reviews to ful l healthcare students' needs.…”