Cross-Cultural Medical Care Training and Education: a National Survey of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Fellows-in-Training and Fellowship Program Directors

Pediatric hematologists/oncologists face complex situations such as breaking bad news, treatment/clinical trials discussions, and end-of-life/hospice care. With increasing diversity in patient and physician populations, cultural competency and sensitivity training covering different aspects of pediatric hematology/oncology (PDHO) care can help improve health care delivery and reduce disparities. Though it is considered a required component of fellowship training, there is no clearly defined curriculum meant specifically for PDHO fellows-in-training (PDHO-F). A national online survey of 356 PDHO-F and 67 PDHO program directors (PDHO-PD) was conducted to assess the educational experience, perceptions about identifying barriers including one’s own biases and trainee comfort in delivering culturally sensitive care in various PDHO relevant clinical situations. One hundred and eleven (31.2%) PDHO-F and 27 (40.3%) PDHO-PD responded. 30.6% of PDHO-F “strongly agreed/agreed” they received comprehensive cross-cultural communication (CCC) training. The top two teaching methods were faculty role modeling and informal teaching. Majority of CCC training is in medical school or residency and only 10.8% of PDHO-F reported that most of their CCC training was in fellowship. In most clinical situations, there was a modest direct correlation between the fellow’s level of agreement that they received comprehensive CCC training and their comfort level. Comfort level with some clinical situations was also significantly different based on year of training. Fellowship training programs should have CCC curricula which use experiential learning models and lay the foundation for promoting cultural awareness, self-reflection, and better patient-physician partnerships which can eventually adapt to and surmount the challenges unique to the physician’s chosen field of practice.