Divergent Perspectives on Language-Discordant Mobile Medical Professionals' Communication with Colleagues: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

Little is known about how language-discordant mobile medical professionals (MMPs), defined as doctors who work in foreign countries, cultures, and languages, interact with their colleagues. The number of MMPs around the world is growing, and their interactions with colleagues have direct consequences for both patients' health and their own professional success. We examine the communication of MMPs in five Western European countries from the perspective of MMPs themselves (n=134) and that of their (native) colleagues (n=54). Participants agreed that MMPs could use additional training related to everyday medical language, fluency, idioms, pronunciation, humor, and local dialects. Beyond this, however, assessments diverged: MMPs generally felt confident in their communication skills (and thought others saw them as competent), but their colleagues reported a number of concerns including difficulty with small talk, nonverbal communication, and observance of (related) local cultural norms. We propose that communication training programs targeting MMPs should specifically address communication with colleagues, and should include instruction about language-related issues, and explicit discussion of local cultural norms and expectations.

Keywords:

• medical communication
• intercultural communication
• physician-physician communication
• physician training
• health communication

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge and thank the partners who have contributed to the development of the questionnaire, data collection, and data management: Arne Oehlsen, Lene Rybner, Kylene de Angelis, Henrik Hansson, Thomas Hutchins, Randi Myhre and Per Gillström, as well as the European Commission's Leonardo da Vinci program for financial support. We would also like to thank the editor and the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive feedback on earlier versions of this manuscript.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jessica Gasiorek

Jessica Gasiorek (MA, University of California, Santa Barbara), Department of Communication, University of California, Santa Barbara

Kris van de Poel

Kris Van de Poel (PhD, Edinburgh University), Research Unit of Applied Language Studies, University of Antwerp