Clinician/patient connections in ethnoculturally nonconcordant encounters with political-asylum seekers: a comparison of physicians and nurses

• Published in: Journal of transcultural nursing Vol. 16; no. 4; p. 298
• Main Authors: Koehn, Peter H, Sainola-Rodriguez, Kirsti
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.10.2005
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Anthropology, Cultural; Attitude of Health Personnel - ethnology; Attitude to Health - ethnology; Clinical Competence - standards; Dissent and Disputes; Female; Finland; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Health Status; Humans; Male; Medical Staff - education; Medical Staff - psychology; Medical Staff - standards; Middle Aged; Nurse-Patient Relations; Nursing Assessment - standards; Nursing Methodology Research; Nursing Staff - education; Nursing Staff - psychology; Nursing Staff - standards; Physician-Patient Relations; Refugees - psychology; Surveys and Questionnaires; Transcultural Nursing - education; Transcultural Nursing - standards; Finland
• ISSN: 1043-6596
• DOI: 10.1177/1043659605278936

The article compares the ability of nurses and physicians to connect with patients in ethnoculturally nonconcordant clinical encounters with 41 randomly selected political-asylum seekers (PAS) residing at five Finnish reception centers in summer 2002. Doctors and nurses were equally unlikely to draw congruent assessments of the patient's past and present health condition, mixed use of biomedical/ethnocultural practices, adherence with medication and eat/drink instructions, (dis)satisfaction, and future confidence in recommended biomedical and ethnocultural approaches. Nurses were considerably more likely to hold views that were congruent with the patient's reported health care effectiveness in Finland. The findings suggest that doctors should request and place special weight on the insights of the principal attending nurse when assessing the potential contributions of personal, family, and host-society health care assets and inhibitors to a migrant patient's overall health plan. The results also suggest that culturally sensitive health care training offers specific advantages to nurses who attend to PAS.