Do the future health professionals feel prepared to care for the increasingly diverse population?

BACKGROUND: Migrant and ethnic minority populations in Europe are growing, leading to a demand for health systems and health educations to accommodate the growing diversity. However, many medical educations in Europe, including Denmark, have not yet incorporated diversity competence training into their curriculum. The aim of the study is to investigate whether Danish medical students feel adequately prepared to provide care and address the needs of the increasingly diverse population. METHODS: An online survey was conducted by email to 5234 students in four medical Master programs in Denmark or were undergoing clinical internship. Reminders were distributed by email, shared in Facebook groups and were presented during lectures where cards with QR codes for the survey were distributed. Data collection took place during spring 2023. The survey questions were adapted from the validated Recidency Training In Cross-Cultural Care questionnaire (University of Boston and Harvard University), with adjustments from the University of Hawaii. RESULTS: Across universities 64% - 80% of the participating medical students and young physicians reported that they felt very or somewhat unprepared when it comes to care for patients who are new immigrants. Additionally, 57%-83% of the participants felt very or somewhat unprepared in providing care for patients with a distrust of the Danish health care system. In total, 31% reported feeling helpless at times or often in the last year when providing care to patients from a culture different from their own. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that many Danish medical students and young physicians feel challenged and unprepared when it comes to providing care to migrants and ethnic minority patients. The variation between universities may reflect differences in curriculum and patient composition. KEY MESSAGES: • The increasing diversity of European populations is a challenge to the medical profession and not yet sufficiently reflected in Danish medical training. • Medical schools need to ensure development and integration of diversity competence training in the medical programs in order to support inclusive health care services.