Challenges and Opportunities in Health Professions Education: Perspectives in the Context of Cultural Diversity

This book discusses the challenges of health professions education in non-Western cultures and advocates for a more patient-centered approach. It builds on Hofstedes analysis of cultural dimensions and explores how they influence medical education. The book provides insights into how cultural context affects students, teachers, feedback, teamwork, community health needs, clinical decision-making, and group dynamics. It aims to promote a more culturally-sensitive approach to educating health professionals and is relevant to public health and medical education practitioners.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 308 pages
Publication date: 24 February 2023
Publisher: Springer Verlag, Singapore

This comprehensive book delves into the unique challenges faced by health professions education in non-Western cultures, presenting a transformative approach to preparing future healthcare professionals for patient-centered care. While the field of health professions education has garnered increasing attention over the past three decades, the promotion of student-centered learning principles, pioneered by esteemed medical leaders, has largely remained confined to the Western context. Drawing upon Hofstedes' insightful analysis of cultural dimensions, which underpin the way individuals forge and sustain relationships and impact social, economic, and political well-being across nations, this book delineates the distinct cultural differences between East and West, specifically applied to medical education. Through a series of studies originating from non-Western countries, the book explores the hierarchical and collectivist cultural dimensions in depth, offering valuable insights for researchers and health professional educators to comprehend how cultural context shapes the input, processes, and output of health professionals' education. Examples abound, illustrating how cultural context influences students' responses to teachers, the dynamics of teacher-student feedback, and the complexities of peer feedback and group work. The authors also examine the factors contributing to students' hesitance in proposing ideas, the pervasive cultural norm of maintaining harmony, the challenges of teamwork in clinical settings, the importance of being sensitive to community health needs, the intricacies of clinical decision-making, and the interplay of collectivist cultural values in group dynamics. With a clear objective of advocating for a more culturally sensitive approach, this book aims to empower future healthcare professionals with the knowledge and skills necessary to provide equitable and compassionate care to diverse patient populations.

Weight: 510g
Dimension: 235 x 155 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9789811672347
Edition number: 1st ed. 2022