TY - JOUR

T1 - Danish doctors' reactions to 'internationalization' in clinical training in a public university hospital

AU - Kling, Joyce

AU - Tolsgaard, Martin G

AU - Løkkegaard, Ellen

AU - Teilmann, Grete

AU - Mola, Gylli

AU - Poulsen, Jørgen Hedemark

AU - Nilas, Lisbeth

AU - Cortes, Dina

PY - 2019

Y1 - 2019

N2 - OBJECTIVE: From 2012 to 2015, two Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology and two Departments of Pediatrics at the University of Copenhagen implemented an English medium international project. The project allowed international students to work in pairs with local Danish speaking students in a clinical setting. The student cohort was supported by Danish doctors who were responsible for student-pair supervision in English and, ultimately, patient care. Drawing on survey responses of 113 Danish doctors, this study considers the doctors' overall evaluation of the program and their perception of the international students' knowledge, skills and attitudes compared with local students.RESULTS: The Danish doctors rated the international and local students comparable in respect to professional commitment (p = 0.347), academic level (p = 0.134), and English proficiency (p = 0.080). The Danish doctors rated the international students significantly lower than the local students regarding communication with Danish doctors, other hospital staff, and patients (p < 0.001 in all cases). Ninety percent of the doctors involved in the project supported continuing working with internationalization if it included mixed pairs of students and a Danish doctor assigned each day to be exclusively responsible for student supervision. Language barriers for international medical students could be overcome but required substantial faculty support.

AB - OBJECTIVE: From 2012 to 2015, two Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology and two Departments of Pediatrics at the University of Copenhagen implemented an English medium international project. The project allowed international students to work in pairs with local Danish speaking students in a clinical setting. The student cohort was supported by Danish doctors who were responsible for student-pair supervision in English and, ultimately, patient care. Drawing on survey responses of 113 Danish doctors, this study considers the doctors' overall evaluation of the program and their perception of the international students' knowledge, skills and attitudes compared with local students.RESULTS: The Danish doctors rated the international and local students comparable in respect to professional commitment (p = 0.347), academic level (p = 0.134), and English proficiency (p = 0.080). The Danish doctors rated the international students significantly lower than the local students regarding communication with Danish doctors, other hospital staff, and patients (p < 0.001 in all cases). Ninety percent of the doctors involved in the project supported continuing working with internationalization if it included mixed pairs of students and a Danish doctor assigned each day to be exclusively responsible for student supervision. Language barriers for international medical students could be overcome but required substantial faculty support.

KW - Adult

KW - Clinical Competence/standards

KW - Communication

KW - Denmark

KW - Education, Medical/standards

KW - Female

KW - Gynecology/education

KW - Hospitals, Public

KW - Hospitals, University

KW - Humans

KW - Internationality

KW - Male

KW - Obstetrics/education

KW - Pediatrics/education

KW - Physicians/statistics & numerical data

KW - Students, Medical/statistics & numerical data

KW - Surveys and Questionnaires

U2 - 10.1186/s13104-019-4405-y

DO - 10.1186/s13104-019-4405-y

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 31307518

VL - 12

JO - BMC Research Notes

JF - BMC Research Notes

SN - 1756-0500

M1 - 411

ER -