McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
Patient Educ Couns. 2012 Feb;86(2):205-9. doi: 10.1016/j.pec.2011.05.015. Epub 2011 Jun 1.
Immigrants in Canada form a significant portion of the population and have unique and complex health needs. This study was undertaken to evaluate family physicians' perspectives on the care of this population.
Questionnaires were distributed to family physicians in Montreal (n=598). The main outcomes of interest were attitudes of family physicians to care of immigrants including barriers perceived, resources and strategies used to accommodate immigrant patients, as well as physicians' training in immigrant care.
Family physicians find communication difficulties to be the key barrier and would like to see the access to interpreters improved. Very few physicians make use of professional interpreters. Only a minority of physicians have received specific cross-cultural competence training but those who have seem to provide better quality of care.
Knowledge of physician perspectives is an essential element on which to base interventions to improve the quality of care to this population.
Physicians should be reminded of the importance of using professional interpretation services in multi-lingual encounters. Cross-cultural training should be further advanced in Canadian medical curricula.
加拿大的移民构成了其人口的重要组成部分，他们有着独特且复杂的健康需求。本研究旨在评估家庭医生对这一人群的护理的看法。
向蒙特利尔的家庭医生（n=598）分发了调查问卷。主要关注的结果是家庭医生对移民护理的态度，包括他们认为存在的障碍、为适应移民患者而使用的资源和策略，以及医生在移民护理方面的培训。
家庭医生认为沟通困难是主要障碍，希望改善口译员的获取途径。很少有医生使用专业口译员。只有少数医生接受过特定的跨文化能力培训，但这些医生似乎提供了更好的护理质量。
了解医生的观点是改善对这一人群的护理质量的干预措施的重要基础。
应提醒医生在多语种环境中使用专业口译服务的重要性。加拿大医学课程应进一步推进跨文化培训。
