Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38658982›Full record

ArticleBMC medical education2024

Multilingual education: medical interns perceptions regarding the usefulness of non-mother tongue communications skills taught during the undergraduate curriculum.

Ian van Rooyen, Joel Claassen, Natasha Moodaley, Gregory Doyle, Thuli Skade, Rae Nash, Sandile Gxilishe, Derek Adriaan Hellenberg

Open access · goldAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in BMC medical education, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
1.7field-weighted citation impact, top 16% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed, 2 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Ian van RooyenAfrikaans and Netherlandic Studies, School of Languages and Literatures, University of Cape Town, Upper Campus, Cape Town, 7701, Western Cape, South Africa. ian.vanrooyen@uct.ac.za.
Joel ClaassenAfrikaans and Netherlandic Studies, School of Languages and Literatures, University of Cape Town, Upper Campus, Cape Town, 7701, Western Cape, South Africa.
Natasha MoodaleyDivision of Family Medicine, School of Public Health and Family Medicine, Health Science Faculty, University of Cape Town, Observatory, Cape Town, Western Cape, 7701, South Africa.
Gregory DoyleDepartment of Health Sciences Education, Health Science Faculty, Observatory, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, 7701, Western Cape, South Africa.
Thuli SkadeAfrican Languages, School of Languages and Literatures, University of Cape Town, Upper Campus, Cape Town, 7701, Western Cape, South Africa.
Rae NashDepartment of Clinical Skills, Health Science Faculty, University of Cape Town, Observatory, Cape Town, 7701, Western Cape, South Africa.
Sandile GxilisheAfrican Languages, School of Languages and Literatures, University of Cape Town, Upper Campus, Cape Town, 7701, Western Cape, South Africa.
Derek Adriaan HellenbergDivision of Family Medicine, School of Public Health and Family Medicine, Health Science Faculty, University of Cape Town, Observatory, Cape Town, Western Cape, 7701, South Africa.
University of Cape Town · ZA

Funding

European Union Grant DCI-AFS/2012/302-996
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThis paper investigates the perceptions of medical interns regarding the usefulness of non-mother tongue communication skills taught during the undergraduate curriculum at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. In 2003, the university decided to incorporate Afrikaans and IsiXhosa communication skills into the new MBChB curriculum in order to meet the Faculty of Health Sciences goals to promote quality and equity in healthcare, and to prepare graduating health practitioners for multilingual communities where they would be serving. Despite annual internal evaluations and reviews of the languages courses, the usefulness, if any, of the additional languages in the working clinical environment had not been determined.

methodsData were collected during the second year of medical internship across a five-year period through survey questionnaires, as well as focus group interviews conducted in the Western Cape, South Africa. Surveys were conducted from 2009 to 2013.

resultsThe study shows that the usefulness of each of the probed categories was not consistent across both languages. The interns expressed a need for an overall improvement of the isiXhosa course offering, while the outcomes for the Afrikaans language were more positive across all categories except for cultural understanding.

conclusionThe study indicates a positive trend amongst the interns towards developing usefulness in communication skills in Afrikaans and isiXhosa to communicate with their patients.

Indexed as

CurriculumEducation, Medical, UndergraduateInternship and ResidencyMultilingualismAdultAttitude of Health PersonnelCommunicationFemaleFocus GroupsHumansMaleSouth AfricaSurveys and QuestionnairesAdditional language communication skillsAfrikaansIsiXhosaLanguage learningMulti-language use in the workplaceMultilingualism in health sciences

Identifiers

PMID38658982
PMCPMC11044393
OpenAlexW4395072735

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.