Training and transculturality : immigrant patient care as perceived by first-year Nursing students

• Main Authors: Manuel Moreno Preciado, Elisa Agudo Gisbert
• Format: Article
• Language: Spanish
• Published: Universidad de Alicante 2012-06-01
• Series: Cultura de los Cuidados
• Subjects: Inmigración; Formación; Cuidados; Transculturalidad
• Online Access: https://culturacuidados.ua.es/article/view/2006-n20-formacion-y-transculturalidad-el-cuidado-del-paciente-inmigrado-desde-la-perspectiva-del-estudiante-de-enfermeria-de-primer-ano

Immigrants are extremely vulnerable persons, due to the conditions of precariousness and uprooting linked to migration movements. This paper proposes the need for transcultural training as a necessary tool for healthcare students and professionals. Before hospital training, the following actions were implemented: a semistructured questionnaire, in order to gauge the perception of immigrant healthcare; after the training period, focal discussion groups and documentary analysis of the observation work carried out during training. It was observed that students’ perceptions are modified after training: students consider that an emphasis should be placed on personalized treatment, and have detected that at present health professionals are concerned and worried about how to act in the new environment caused by the arrival of immigrants. The presence of people from different cultures is a challenge for both healthcare students and professionals. One must cater for new demands in an increasingly complex environment, which requires new approaches to the health/sickness/healthcare process, and also an understanding of the consequences of migration upon immigrants’ health. Thus, it becomes necessary to lay an emphasis upon transcultural training for healthcare professionals.