how do you provide culturally competent care

How to ensure you are culturally competent?

These include: We all have cultural preferences. Take time to consider how your own beliefs, values, sense of identity, etc., relate to your background.

Why is cultural competency important?

According to the National Institutes of Health, cultural competency “is critical to reducing health disparities and improving access to high-quality healthcare” because it “enables systems, agencies, and groups of professionals to function effectively to understand the needs of groups accessing health information and healthcare.” † In others words, if you respect cultural preferences and differences, you can more effectively care for all of your patients, regardless of how diverse they are.

How to avoid cultural clumsiness?

Cultural clumsiness can be avoided by showing concern and compassion from the get-go. Educating Yourself. Reading about other cultures and attending seminars about cultural differences can help prepare you to provide culturally competent care.

When you understand your own preferences, can you better anticipate when and how your patients’ preferences may differ?

Even if you think you understand a patient’s preferences, you still need to verify what your patient considers appropriate and normal.

Why is it important to define jargon in nursing?

Define jargon and explain why a specific course of action is necessary. This can help avoid noncompliance and confusion, which can lead to poor healthcare outcomes. Not Judging. Your job as a nurse is to help people stay healthy.

Why is it important for physicians to understand the sociocultural background of a patient?

Physicians are increasingly faced with providing care to a multicultural society complicated by literacy issues. Ensuring safe and quality healthcare for all patients requires physicians to understand how each patient’s sociocultural background affects his or her health beliefs and behavior.

Why is communication important in multicultural settings?

In multicultural and minority populations, the issue of communication may play an even larger role because of linguistic, contextual, and cultural barriers that preclude effective patient-provider communication. Research has shown that services for minorities can be improved by removing language and cultural barriers.

What to do if a patient refuses to use an interpreter?

If the patient refuses interpreter services, explain to the patient/family member that it is very important to the patient’s care and safety that you and the patient/family understand each other. Suggest a referral to a physician who speaks the patient’s primary language.

What percentage of the population has the skills to navigate and understand our complex health systems?

AHRQ has found that only 12% of the population has the skills to navigate and understand our complex health systems—skills that are reduced by stress and illness. We encourage you to explore the AHRQ Health Literacy Universal Precautions Toolkit.

What happens when cultures and languages clash?

When cultures and languages clash, physicians are unable to deliver the care they have been trained to provide. Culturally competent care depends on resolving systemic and individual cultural differences that can create conflicts and misunderstandings. If the provider is unable to elicit patient information and negotiate appropriate care, negative health consequences may occur.

What happens if there is no culturally competent care?

Studies have shown that the absence of culturally competent care can lead to preventable mistakes and adverse events.

What Is Cultural Competence in Health Care?

Cultural competence in health care means delivering effective, quality care to patients who have diverse beliefs, attitudes, values, and behaviors. This practice requires systems that can personalize health care according to cultural and linguistic differences. It also requires understanding the potential impact that cultural differences can have on healthcare delivery.

Why is cultural competence important?

Cultural competence improves communication, which keeps patients safer. Clear communication allows healthcare providers to collect accurate medical information. It also encourages active dialogues in which patients and providers can ask questions, correct misunderstandings, and build trust.

Why do healthcare providers need to be multicultural?

Healthcare providers strive to develop a multicultural orientation to deliver culturally sensitive care and improve communication. However, even when healthcare professionals have a meaningful understanding of a culture, they still can’t predict the behaviors and attitudes of their patients simply based on their cultural backgrounds. That’s because people are unique, and their behavior and beliefs might not always reflect those of their cultures.

Why is cross cultural awareness important?

Cross-cultural awareness makes healthcare providers more open to unfamiliar attitudes, practices, or behaviors. It also improves collaboration with patients and helps them respond with flexibility. Benefits of cross-cultural awareness include:

How does diversity improve cross-cultural communication?

Additionally, building teams with healthcare professionals who reflect the diversityof the patient populations served can also improve cross-cultural communication. Diverse teams have a wider cultural knowledge base that they can share with one another. This makes them likely to respond with empathy to the unique cultural needs of patients.

How does communication affect healthcare?

This can, in turn, impact both clinicians’ and patients’ decisions with regard to treatment. For example, a clinician may misinterpret a patient’s silence as a lack of interestin receiving care. As a result, the clinician may not order a diagnostic test, when in fact the patient’s response reflected their notion of respectful behavior.

What is cultural competence?

Cultural competence, Showunmi says, is “having the capacity to function effectively as an individual and an organization within the context of the cultural beliefs, behaviors, and needs in order to deliver the best care.”. She advises that in healthcare, certain cultural practices often cause concerns, including:

Why do case managers invite people from outside their organizations?

Case managers may invite people from outside their organizations to provide education on specific cultures , she adds. “There are several local groups in the community who cater for specific populations. They may be a very good resource.”

What is culture in psychology?

She defines “culture” as all integrated patterns of human behavior that include language, customs, beliefs, values, and institutions of racial, ethnic, religious, or social groups. Communication, courtesies, rituals, roles, customs, relationships, practices, expected behaviors, values, thoughts, and manners of interacting all are reflected in culture, she explains.

How to accommodate a big family?

Negotiate a middle ground where everyone is comfortable. She advises case managers to accommodate the big family group. “Make the effort to accommodate them as much as possible when discussing plan of care or goals of care,” she says. “But also negotiate the visiting hours and the number of guests that can stay overnight.” Also, she advises using a translator so they can understand.