Department of Nursing, Oslo Metropolitan University, Oslo, Norway.
Department of Patient Safety and Equitable Healthcare, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.
Nurs Inq. 2022 Jan;29(1):e12421. doi: 10.1111/nin.12421. Epub 2021 May 12.
Ethnic minority patients face challenges concerning communication and are at higher risk of experiencing health problems and consuming fewer healthcare services. They are also exposed to disparaging societal discourses about migrants which might undermine healthcare institutions' ambitions of equitable health care. Therefore, healthcare professionals need to critically reflect on their practices and processes related to ethnic minority patients. The aim of this article is to explore healthcare professionals' experiences of working with ethnic minority patients by using the critical incident (CI) technique. In two focus group sessions, participants discussed challenging events in their encounters with patients. The critical incidents show that healthcare professionals may experience unfamiliar situations related to their work performance, prejudice toward patients, and labeling by patients the professionals do not identify with. The professionals' reflections are discussed in relation to social discourses on migration and their work conditions, and the possible influence on the professionals' preconceptions and the patient-professional relationship in health care. Reflections about work experiences with ethnic minority patients and aligned societal discourses should be included in healthcare workers' professional development. Critical incident reflections at work may contribute to better-coping strategies for healthcare professionals and improved patient-professional relationships with ethnic minority patients.
少数民族患者在沟通方面面临挑战，他们更有可能出现健康问题，并且使用的医疗保健服务较少。他们还受到对移民的贬低性社会言论的影响，这可能会破坏医疗保健机构提供公平医疗保健的目标。因此，医疗保健专业人员需要批判性地反思他们与少数民族患者相关的实践和流程。本文旨在通过使用关键事件（CI）技术来探讨医疗保健专业人员与少数民族患者合作的经验。在两次焦点小组会议中，参与者讨论了他们与患者接触中遇到的具有挑战性的事件。这些关键事件表明，医疗保健专业人员可能会遇到与其工作表现、对患者的偏见以及患者不认同的专业人员的标签有关的不熟悉情况。专业人员的反思与关于移民的社会言论及其工作条件有关，并可能对专业人员的成见以及医疗保健中的医患关系产生影响。应该将与少数民族患者的工作经验和相关的社会言论纳入医疗保健工作者的专业发展中。对与少数民族患者相关的工作经验进行批判性反思可能有助于医疗保健专业人员更好地应对，并改善医患关系。
