The Importance Of Cultural Competency Interventions

Cultural competency aids in closing the “disparities gap” in health care. ("OMH," 2012, para. 2) In doing so, health professionals and their clients are better able to discuss concerns without cultural differences getting in the way of effective communication and problem solving. Being respectful of and sensitive to the client’s health beliefs, culture, values, and diverse needs can bring positive outcomes within treatment and patient care. After all, is it not the main job of the health care provider to ensure patient trust? Open forms of communication when dealing with client issues can only be provided if the patient is comfortable with his provider and believes his

Patient centeredness, cultural competence and healthcare quality. Journal of the National Medical Association, 100(11), 1275-1285.

Unfortunately, the world we live is a far cry from perfect. We have all types of barriers and roadblocks that we must face and attempt to overcome on a daily basis. When dealing with healthcare, these barriers and roadblocks can be much scarier – and in some cases even deadly. These barriers are not limited to only language, but also to differences in cultures as well.

“The new mestiza copes by developing a tolerance for contradictions, a tolerance for ambiguity. She learns to be an Indian in Mexican culture, to be Mexican from an Anglo point of view. She learns to juggle cultures. She has a plural personality, she operates in a pluralistic mode—nothing is thrust out, the good, the bad, and the ugly, nothing rejected, nothing abandoned. Not only does she sustain contradictions, she returns the ambivalence into something else”

When clinically assessing patients in care settings, it is paramount for health professionals to elicit pertinent information that could be crucial for delivery of care. This is particularly important in the United States because the increasing diversity in racial and ethnic composition of the population has presented cultural challenges that care givers must navigate to provide culturally competent service. Cultural competence during delivery of care requires sensitivity to the cultural, social, and linguistic needs of patients (Betancourt, Green, Carrillo, 2002). As a consequence, care providers need cultural assessment tools that will enable them

In this great nation we live in today that has been vastly increasing diversity bring so many great opportunities. But with these great opportunities there are also challenges that are continually looked over constantly. One of the challenges is our health care system that fails to deliver culturally competent services. Cultural competency helps to enable providers to deliver services that are respectful to diverse patients. This helps with patients own health beliefs, practices and cultural and linguistic needs. This is why this training is needed in every health facility. Many doctors go through this problem not understanding their patient’s needs. If I were a doctor I would use this skill. Certain racial and ethnic minorities receive poorer

A lack in cultural competency: Cultural incompetency is a broad concept of cultural and/or linguistic barriers between healthcare providers, patients, and supporting staff members (Truong, M, 2014). In the case of AHC, there are linguistic barriers present. This issue has been addressed by the medical staff but resulted as a failed effort. Discussions with staff members revealed that the facility did see an influx of patients when hiring more culturally diverse health care personnel, but the staff felt the need to resign before termination caused by the inability of following orders they did not understand (Jacobs, E, et al, 2006)

Introduction: Cultures, social, ethnicity, English proficiency are factors that my significantly affect the quality of healthcare. Patient’s perspective, values, beliefs and behavior are highly influenced by the sociocultural background pf the patient (1-5). These factors can affect dealing with patient’s symptoms, seeking care, pain toleration, care adherence, preventive measure, and health care expectations.

I have learned that it is important that educators  and health providers be trained on cultural competency to understand the population they are serving. Marks, Sims, and Osher (King, Sims, & Osher, n.d.) define cultural competency  as a set of congruent behaviors, attitudes, and policies that come together in a system, agency, or among professionals and enables that system, agency, or those professionals to work effectively in cross–cultural situations" ( as cited in Cross et al., 1989; Isaacs & Benjamin, 1991). Health providers and educators should investigate demographic patterns or trends in the place where they live and work. This brings awareness of the types of cultures that they might come across when they are working with people. Organizations should integrate and implement policies that promote the value of  diversity, self-assessment, manage the dynamics of difference, acquire and institutionalize cultural knowledge, and adapt to diversity and the cultural contexts of communities they serve (Georgetown  University, 2004). Georgetown University (2004) also stresses that culture competency grows gradually and is always open for improvement.

Cultural competence in health care systems and organizations 7. Patient advocacy and empowerment 8. Multicultural workforce 9. Cross- cultural leadership 10.

As a health care professional, we are faced with caring for patients of different cultural and ethnic background. Researching and learning about the patient’s culture values, beliefs and practices is essential and remarks the ability to provide quality health care for the patient. “Organizations and individuals who understand their clients’ cultural values, beliefs, and practices are in a better position to be coparticipants with their clients in providing culturally acceptable care” (Purnell & Paulanka, 2008, p. 2). After completing the cultural competence checklist, I was able to identify some of my responses to the patient cultural values and belief practices. I will describe a summary of my assessment results, analyze

Interest in the subject of cultural and linguistic competency is beginning to reach the “tipping point” (Gladwell, 2002). Over the past two decades, there has been an “explosion” of interest in developing programs that meet the general, mental and oral health, as well as social service needs of the country’s increasingly diverse population. Cultural and linguistic competence initiatives are underway at the systems, organizational, and clinical levels in a variety of institutions. A growing number of federal agencies, foundations, and private organizations are supporting innovative educational, research, and service delivery services. The U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), for example, has Centers for Excellence (COEs) that use a curriculum guide for integrating cultural and linguistic competency content, methods and evaluation into existing academic programs (HRSA, 2005).

The cultural destructiveness is at the lowest end or negative end of the cultural competence continuum. Whereas cultural proficiency is at the top end or positive end of the cultural competence continuum (Rose, 2013). The diversity week at BSWH focused attention to each culture and is moving towards achieving the cultural proficiency. According to Castillo & Guo (2011), a culturally competent organization addresses the needs of diverse patients through its commitment with staff training that enhance cultural

A cultural broker may serve as a guide in health care settings that are in the process of incorporating culturally and linguistically competent

More Diverse Healthcare Professionals lead to positive patient outcomes. Racial and ethnic minorities have higher rates of poor health outcomes than white in the case of disease, even when income, employment status and insurance coverage are controlled. Cultural bias is one contributor to this, according to the IOM Report Unequal Treatment: