title: Multicultural health care in practice. An empirical exploration of multicultural care in The Netherlands.
abstract: This study presents a first assessment of the challenges faced by Dutch health care providers dealing with the increasing cultural diversity in Dutch society. Qualitative interviews with 24 Dutch caregivers and policy-makers point to a number of important difficulties encountered when confronted with the growing diversity of patient populations. The study focuses explicitly on the challenges health care providers perceive in their direct interactions with patients. On the basis of the observations of the 24 respondents five strategies were formulated to improve the delivery of care in a multicultural environment. Their findings were further evaluated by confronting the empirical data with care-ethical notions (attentiveness, responsibility, competence, and responsiveness) and intercultural communication-theory.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ethics, Philosophy, and History of Medicine, University Medical Centre Nijmegen, PO Box 9101, 6500 HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands. g.olthuis@efg.umcn.nl
authors.forename: Gert
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Olthuis
authors.forename: Godelieve
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: van Heteren
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003144:Communication Barriers; D018864:Cultural Diversity; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D009426:Netherlands; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations