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Training GPs and Family Physicians in a country where diversity is the exception and not the rule, Heathcote’s experience of clash of cultures is a daily occurrence.
In our group of 27 trainees we have 13 different home languages and cultures, all with differing levels of formality required when addressing a senior. In some cultures it is unacceptably rude and disrespectful to address a senior by given name under any circumstances.
To successfully train across cultural lines requires great adaptability from the trainer and a willingness to be a bit uncomfortable in order to facilitate learning in a trainee who is much more uncomfortable and uncertain. It is unfortunate that the label of passive-aggression or even a “small red flag” is considered in this situation.
Respect for another’s culture does not mean merely to acknowledge the difference, but then insisting that one’s own cultural rules apply. Training across cultural lines requires a willingness to accommodate differences and an honest and respectful discussion and negotiation to find a compromise. If the training institution or trainer cannot be flexible about cultural differences that have little to do with the trainees' medical skill, they should probably only train those whose culture they share.
Heathcote highlights an interesting clash of hierarchical customs between primary and secondary care. I can empathise with the trainees he mentions. I remember the awkward transition into my first GP job, after years as a student and house officer when the boss was always 'Dr'.
For the trainee there is, I think, a comfort in asserting some distance from the boss. One of the striking impressions I have from GP training was that for all the chummy informality and mandatory sharing there is a rigid expectation to conform. A training culture that so readily sanctions diversity with "small red flags" perhaps discourages the first-name-terms relationships that Heathcote's colleagues, and most of us, wish to have in the workplace.
Re: Please call me Tina
Training GPs and Family Physicians in a country where diversity is the exception and not the rule, Heathcote’s experience of clash of cultures is a daily occurrence.
In our group of 27 trainees we have 13 different home languages and cultures, all with differing levels of formality required when addressing a senior. In some cultures it is unacceptably rude and disrespectful to address a senior by given name under any circumstances.
To successfully train across cultural lines requires great adaptability from the trainer and a willingness to be a bit uncomfortable in order to facilitate learning in a trainee who is much more uncomfortable and uncertain. It is unfortunate that the label of passive-aggression or even a “small red flag” is considered in this situation.
Respect for another’s culture does not mean merely to acknowledge the difference, but then insisting that one’s own cultural rules apply. Training across cultural lines requires a willingness to accommodate differences and an honest and respectful discussion and negotiation to find a compromise. If the training institution or trainer cannot be flexible about cultural differences that have little to do with the trainees' medical skill, they should probably only train those whose culture they share.
Competing interests: No competing interests