Are pharmacy undergraduates culturally competent?

Zachariah Nazar, Farhana Begum

Research output: Contribution to journalMeeting Abstractpeer-review

Abstract

Background: The cultural competency (CC) of healthcare professionals has been demonstrated to reduce health disparities in ethnic minority populations.

Aims: To investigate the factors associated with CC in pharmacy undergraduates and identify the curricula activities pERPeived to contribute developing competence.

Method: An adapted version of the Clinical Cultural Competency Questionnaire (CCCQ) (Like 2001) was employed to determine the CC of first and final year pharmacy undergraduates. Follow-up focus groups facilitated in-depth discussion of
key findings.

Results: Both first and final year MPharm students (n=135) demonstrated limited CC and poor knowledge of health disparities. The CCCQ indicated final year students to be comparatively more culturally competent; furthermore a significant positive correlation was identified with increased age and having lived or travelled abroad. Final year students attributed their increased competency to work-based placements. Curricula activities to develop CC were identified to be lacking in the pharmacy programme.

Conclusion: Recent international healthcare education research has reported on activities to develop undergraduate CC with the aim of enhancing students' preparedness in tackling the health challenges of increasing diverse populations. Similar UK studies have not been reported. The increasing patient-facing roles of pharmacists, escalates the necessity of addressing this issue.
Original languageEnglish
Article numberERO6
Pages (from-to)250
Number of pages1
JournalPharmacy Education
Volume17
Issue number1
Publication statusPublished - 31 Jul 2017
EventPharmacy Education Symposium : Pharmacy education and collaboration for global practice - Prato, Italy
Duration: 9 Jul 201712 Jul 2017
https://www.monash.edu/pharm/about/events/education-symposium

Keywords

  • pharmaceutical education
  • pharmacy culture

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