The Cultural Competency Of St. Jude's Research Hospital

Cultural competence is the ability to interact well with people of different cultural backgrounds (Rundle, 2002). It provides the best ways of meeting the needs of diverse patient population which is always on the increase, as well as ways of effectively advocating for them. This means that cultural competence has the benefit of enabling nurses to deliver services that respect and effectively respond to health beliefs and practice needs of diverse patients. Through the process of globalization, nurses are moving to places of nursing shortage to offer their knowledge and skills beyond their home

Within the Asian culture, people do not openly display their feelings or emotions toward others. The reason for this would be due to what they call the “protective front," or a public mask, which is used to meet their political expectations (Shiraev & Levy, 2010). When examining other cultures, a therapist must take into account the individual’s beliefs. An example of this is Japan’s respect for history and spiritual practice. Their practice is not shared as strictly in American culture, where many families do not practice religion or husband and wife may be of different religion and allow children to make their own spiritual decisions.

Cultural competence is defined as possessing the skills and knowledge necessary to appreciate, respect, and work with individuals from different cultures. It is a concept that requires self-awareness, awareness and understanding of cultural differences, and the ability to adapt to clinical skills and practices as needed

It have been proven effective in providing services to individuals from a wide spread of diverse backgrounds. Cultural competence is understanding a set of congruent behaviors, knowledge, attitudes and policies that enable effective work in cross-cultural situations (Bazron, Cross, Dennis, & Isaacs, 1989). This means that an individual trains to understand different cultural groups. Cultural competency training is beneficial to all human service organizations because it aims to increase the knowledge and skills to improve one’s ability to efficiently serve different cultural groups therefore eliminating biases and

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.

For us to develop cultural competence we need to have a level expertise, knowledge and attributes. When I mention Expertise I am referring to professional skills such as, being able to communicate correct information for culturally different people and their communities, the skill to candidly discuss racial and ethnic issues and to react to culturally based signs, the skill to understand the meaning that traditions/culture has for each person, Interviewing skills that help to understand and accommodate the role of language in a person’s culture and the skill to use the idea of empowerment on behalf of culturally different people and communities.

Adapting to different cultural beliefs and practices requires flexibility and a respect for others view points. Cultural competence means to really listen to the patient, to find out and learn about the patient's beliefs of health and illness. To provide culturally appropriate care we need to know and to understand culturally influenced health behaviors. However, becoming culturally competent is a much more daunting task. Culture (and ethnicity) often influences a patient’s perceptions of health and illness. Therefore, if healthcare providers appear insensitive to cultural diversity, their actions may negatively affect the quality of the healthcare that they provide.

In the field of human services, “cultural competency” has become a common buzz meant to address in part the . The intention being, that workers are able to achieve some level of knowledge and training that prepares them to work with

Cultural competence is about having awareness, respect and understanding about the diversity around you. Cultural competence is one of the eight key practices that the early years learning framework features as vital to support a child’s learning. Cultural competence is about learning and building an understanding about different cultures while being respectful and open about different cultures and the people within them. Its more then just awareness of cultural differences, its about the ability to understand people across different cultures and developing constructive attitudes concerning cultural difference.

Some of the author’s major points are the lack of understanding of what cultural competence really means which is bringing confusion about ways it can be utilized in the social work field. The confusion of the utilization of cultural competence is leading to the lack of consensus concerning the effective training that providers should obtain and the population being served with the cultural competence skills lack clear description. According to the author, the most popular cultural competence intervention in the healthcare system is the cultural competency training which is for health care providers and the two approaches that have been utilized in creating the intervention are; the programs aimed at improving knowledge which is group specific,

Culture includes the customs, traditions, ideas, and ways of interacting with the environment that often differ in various parts of the world. Over the last several decades in the U.S. there has been a growing awareness and tolerance of cultures other than the traditional western culture in the community. And in healthcare we are expected to provide all patients and families with the same respect and treatment, but at the same time provide individualized care. In order to meet these standards the work place environment has responded with training and education on cultural competence. The term cultural competence can be defined by the ability to respect and understand the beliefs and attitudes of

Culture defined as “ an integrated pattern of human behaviour that include the language, thoughts, communications, actions, customs, beliefs, values, and institutions of racial, ethnic, or social groups.”1 Competence refers to “the capacity to function effectively as an individual and an organization within the context of the cultural beliefs, behaviours, and needs presented by consumers and their communities.”2

Cultural competence is focused on learned behaviors and actions and can be pertain and individual, organization or policy (Oelke, Thurston, & Arthur, 2013). Ideally, a healthcare providers’ practice would only be influenced by the individual patient and/or the community of which the patient resides. But in reality, the healthcare providers’ practice and care is influenced by many entities, such as the

It is high time that people learn about different cultures to have a thorough understanding of the same and thus achieve cultural competency. This is necessary for educators, healthcare givers, attorneys, organizations and all to live in a cross-cultural world without any emotional or physical conflict. Most organizations have their presence in multiple countries and have business relations with people of different cultural groups. So, for a successful business also, cultural competency is the demand.

Defined as the ability of providers and organizations to effectively deliver health care services that meet the social, cultural and linguistic needs (Georgetown University, 2004) Cultural competence is an ideal that spans across not only healthcare, but also law enforcement. Utilizing the same mindset as the healthcare industry, law enforcement has the dubious task of deciphering how to provide a service meant for all and ensure that the needs of all citizens and businesses are met. According to Terry Cross (1988), culturally competent agencies are characterized by acceptance and respect for difference, continuing self-assessment regarding culture, careful attention to the dynamics of difference, continuous expansion of cultural knowledge and resources, and a variety of adaptations to service models in order to better meet the needs of minority populations. The culturally competent agency works to hire unbiased employees, seeks advice and consultation from the minority community and actively decides what it is and is not capable of providing to minority clients.