The Knowledge And Attitude Of Medical Students Towards Values And Cultural Competence In Medical Education And Health-Care Services

Abstract

There is an increased need for all health professionals to better respond to the population health and health care necessities of racial and ethnic minorities. The present surveillance was conducted among the clinical year students of UniKL-RCMP to assess their knowledge and attitude towards the values and cultural competence that may became integral part of the modern medical education. Total 124 clinical year medical students were participated in the surveillance. The purpose of the study were explained in the detail to the students and those are interested to participate they have supplied a written informed consent form along with a questionnaire form to fill by themselves. Data were compiled and analyzed by using statistical analysis software Graphpad Prism 6.0. Among the total 124 respondent students 71.77% were female, 97.58% were Islam religion follower and most (95.97%) of them were belongs to the Malay ethnic group of origin and their first language is Bahasa Malayu. Significant number of students (106/85.48%) stated that they recognized the value of medical treatment and health education may vary greatly among cultures and (88/70.96%) mentioned that the medical education system imposing values that may reflect cultures or ethnic groups. Most of the students (87/70.16%) stated that the magazine, brochure, picture, poster, artwork and other decor of college and hospital rarely or never contains information about cultural ethnic groups. The result of the present surveillance reflected the knowledge and attitude of medical students towards values and cultural believes and its impact on medical education and medical treatment. Most of the student realized the need of cultural competence should be imposed at medical college and hospitals environment. INTRODUCTION Cultural competence is a set of related behaviors, knowledge, attitudes, and policies that come together in a system, organization, or among professionals that enables effective work in cross-cultural situations. " Culture " refers to integrated patterns of human behavior that include the language, thoughts, actions, customs, beliefs, and institutions of racial, ethnic, social, or religious groups. " Competence " implies having the capacity to function effectively as an individual or an organization within the context of the cultural beliefs, practices, and needs presented by patients and their communities [1]. Cultural competence in health care and medical education combines the beliefs of patient or family-centered care and understanding of the social and cultural behavior influence the quality of medical education and health-care services. Countries having population of racial and ethnic diversity, it is important for health-care professionals to address issues of such diversity in medical education and practices [2].