Doctors uneasy with minorities - The Times 27th November 2007

MANY health professionals lack confidence when dealing with ethnic minorities, and it could be impinging on the quality of care patients receive. GP (Nov 23) reports on a study which suggests that many health professionals feel that they do not know enough about different cultures and want to avoid causing offence or being perceived as racist. Researchers asked 106 health professionals about how they felt when treating people of different ethnicities. Many people said that they felt anxious about being discriminatory. The researchers say that this hampers professionals’ ability to act flexibly and creates a “disabling hesitancy” which can unintentionally contribute to ethnic disparities in healthcare.

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