Cultural competent care: educational needs of junior doctors in palliative care for ethnic groups

Abstract

In this article, the results of a qualitative study on the educational needs of junior doctors working in a university hospital in Rome, with regard to providing palliative care (PC) to ethnic groups, are presented. Focus groups were held to identify the educational needs on cultural competence applied to PC during medical training. The expressed needs were clustered in three main themes: language as a barrier, empathy and management of emotions, knowledge (pain management, culture). A set of recommendations were issued towards the medical board to redesign the medical curriculum.