The impact of education and experience on physician assistant students' perception of cultural awareness, knowledge and skills.

A tool to measure health care students' perception of their cultural awareness, knowledge and skills was developed and its reliability tested on a group of Physician Assistant (PA) students. The tool was then used to evaluate perceptions of cultural awareness, knowledge, and skills in two groups of students before and after their education for their physician assistant bachelor's degree. One group received a basic introduction to cultural issues. The other group was exposed to multiple classroom discussions of cultural concerns as well as being required to participate in experiences that provided cross-cultural interaction. Results indicated a significant increase in perceived cultural knowledge and skills for the group that was involved in cross cultural experiences as well as expanded instruction about other cultures.