Cultural awareness

In a healthcare environment, cultural differences take on greater significance. Proficiency in English may not always be enough to remove any cultural barriers between doctor and patient.

Cultural awareness is vital for the doctor to successfully work in an Australian medical setting. This is especially the case for many doctors from non-Western cultural traditions where expectations about a doctor's responsibilities and acceptable behaviour may be different to Australian expectations.

Additionally, overseas trained doctors (OTDs) in Australia need to be aware that this is a very multicultural society and tolerance of other cultural sensitivities may play a more important role here than in many other countries.

Miscommunication affecting the doctor--patient relationship or even accurate diagnosis, can arise in many ways; from failure to accurately read non-verbal signals, attitudes about the role of the medical profession in the treatment of illness and the concept of illness and health generally, and the influence of religion on medical treatment, through to cultural differences in lifestyle, gender-roles, discrimination and status issues.

For this reason, employers need to familiarise OTDs with the Australian healthcare system, cultural values and style of communication. In certain rural and remote positions, this may also include an understanding of Indigenous (Aboriginal) health issues.

The specific scope of engagement must be clearly outlined, including expectations about the duties that the OTD must fulfil in the position (such as a requirement to perform pap smears, for example). The doctor should agree to this before you formally employ him/her.

You may decide that a short training course is in order to get the OTD up-to-speed on some of these issues. A number of formal and informal short courses are available that may help you to bridge cultural and professional differences. Some of these can be found under Cultural training. The resources listed under Australian medical expressions should also prove highly valuable in the workplace. Or you may like to provide your OTDs with the information sources listed under Australian English, which will help them to learn more about Australian speech, slang and even understanding the accent!