Developing cross-cultural competence in Chinese medical students

Dear Sir

As globalization is strongly underway in all parts of the globe, the medical field has become an international community. Cross-cultural competence is therefore a necessity for health professionals. The teaching of foreign languages in China emphasizes cross-cultural communication, and English is taught to students from elementary school to college, but the teaching is mainly focused on daily communication. A Chinese medical student with high scores in College English Test band 6 may feel clumsy in writing research papers or asking for information from a foreign patient. English for general purposes is unable to fulfill the medical student's needs for academic exchanges. Increasing importance is attached to English for specific purposes, but mainly to vocabulary building. Health professionals still encounter misunderstandings or awkwardness in international communication (Zhang & Zheng 2003).

With these circumstances in mind, we established a medical English course for undergraduates. This course consists of two parts: basic medical English and doctor–patient communication. Basic medical English is intended to equip the students with basic medical terms and stylistic features of medical articles. Doctor-patient communication aims to improve the skills in history-taking and physical examination. Cultural aspects were introduced throughout the course. First, a healthy attitude towards foreign cultures was developed. Empathy was advocated and ethnocentrism was opposed to help the students consciously shake off the psychological fetters from their own cultural stereotypes and be open and tolerant to different beliefs and concepts from other cultures (Lukens 1978). Second, essential knowledge of foreign cultures was introduced, especially of medical ethics, religion, psychology, history and customs. Third, communicative skills were trained, for instance, how to build a common ground to make others willing to speak or how to use your body language to make yourself expressive.

The students felt more confident in writing research papers and talking to foreign patients after the course. Setting up a medical English course can be an effective way of developing cross-cultural competence in Chinese medical students.