ABSTRACT
Linguistic and intercultural challenges are often attributed to the migrant patients alone; however, they should also be connected to the health professionals themselves. This chapter describes the relevance that both the patient and doctor have cultural backgrounds that might be of importance in a given consultation. It explains the importance of adequately addressing language and cultural challenges and the consequences of not doing so. The chapter discusses how to use interpreters, including: pros and cons of professional versus non-professional interpreters; basic rules of using interpreters; and differences between interpreters and cultural brokers. A higher degree of cultural awareness and humility as well as an improvement of cultural competence for all general practitioners (GPs) will be a better and more sustainable strategy than trying to recruit GPs from abroad. The GP-patient relationship is strengthened when patients share similar characteristics with their physicians such as gender, personal beliefs, values, and communication.
