Cultural Diversity and Awareness in the American Healthcare System

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

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.

Health care disparities in the United States occur on the provider level. The implicit biases providers are susceptible to help shape physician behavior and produce differences in medical treatment across a host of demographic characteristics but mainly along the lines of race and ethnicity. This paper focuses mainly on the relationship between providers and Black Americans. There is a complex and historical relationship between providers and Black Americans which dates back to the 16th century that is the basis for the biases physicians exhibit towards this particular minority group in today’s healthcare system. Contrary to popular belief, the Tuskegee Syphilis Study in 1932 is not the forerunner to a host of medical abuses committed against

Cultural Competency can be described as one’s ability to learn about cultures other than their own. It speaks to the value one places on diversity and their desire to foster an open exchange of ideas between dissimilar cultures. While in a perfect world, cultural competency would be of heightened importance in all aspects of life, there are certain industries where cultural competency factor more heavily; one of those being health care. This is especially true in areas with increased diversities of cultures, ethnic groups and a variety of languages.

Cultural competence is the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of the individual health care professionals when they treat individual patients who are from different race, ethnicity, and religion and diverse backgrounds. In the U.S, some patients receive equal treatment in the health care facilities, but others receive unequal treatment because they are from diverse backgrounds. In the article, “Cultural Clues” Melissa Hansen focuses on the importance of culturally competent workforce- (nurses, technicians, and doctors) who can recognize cultural differences to allow effective communication with patients. The culturally competent health care workers also include the community health workers- (community health promoters, village health workers, and lay health advisers). In fact, the lack of understanding between the healthcare workers and patients is resulting in an estimated one-third of patients who do not adhere to prescribed medication regimens. This condition leads not only to serious complication and more hospitalizations, but also is costing the U.S. health system an estimated $100 billion to $290 billion every year (Hansen 22). Necessarily, the health care workforce needs to improve this state to reduce disparities.

What is cultural competence? When reading our book and looking at scholarly articles for me to sum up what I think cultural competence is, I found myself rereading each definition over and over. To me cultural competence is understanding that each person is unique and their care should be as well. Truong, Paradies, & Priest (2014) state “cultural competency is a broad concept used to describe a variety of interventions that aim to improve the accessibility and effectiveness of health care services for people from racial/ethnic minorities”. It is important for a healthcare worker to not stereotype a person based on their appearance or race. Not all people that appear alike believe in the same things. In their article Patient-centered care:

Cultural competence is not a new anomaly in nursing. Cultural competence is the ability to provide essential care to patients with backgrounds and belief systems different from our own. Being culturally sensitive is an important part of nursing practice and most employers of nurses usually have diversity training to help facilitate awareness at their healthcare facility. Diversity is prevalent in our society and we only need to look around at the peers we work with and the patients we care for to clearly understand this fact. Cultural differences and the lack of self-awareness about our own attitudes, beliefs, and biases, can negatively affect the nurse-patient communication, the patient’s quality of care, and their health outcome. The

Cultural competency is important when caring for patients whose culture is different than yours. A person’s background, upbringing, and set of beliefs shape the way they interact with healthcare personnel, guide the way they ask for and receive help, and play a role in their understanding and approach to their health. It is important to understand where the patient is coming from so that they can get the most out of their health care experience and ultimately have “improved health outcomes” (Brannon 2009, p. 4). This concept is especially important nowadays not only because the demographics of the United States is continually changing, but also due to the fact that these diverse groups tend to “maintain their cultural uniqueness” as opposed

Going to a different country or area of the world can open up anybody’s eyes to see that culture makes a huge impact on the understanding and practices of healthcare that seem to be so common to other areas of the world. When a person lives in one country their whole life, that person may not realize how different the life they live is from someone in a foreign country. If a person is going to receive treatment from someone with a different cultural background, they should be expected to get treatment to respects their own culture. Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences having such a diverse variety of students has their own cultural competency definition that states “effectively and comfortably communicate across cultures

Improving diversity in health care setting is important in patient care. Cultural competence is approach to enhancing healthcare delivery that has been promoted broadly in recent years. By definition cultural competence in health care describes the ability of systems to provide care to patients with diverse values, beliefs and behaviors, including tailoring delivery to meet patients’ social, cultural, and linguistic needs (Betancourt, Green, & Carrillo, 2002) .The increasing diversity across the nation could create many challenges for health care providers .As the United States becomes a more racially and ethnically diverse nation, healthcare systems and providers need to

The term culture has a very broad definition that encompasses the values, beliefs, customs, religions, behaviors, traditions and the collective attitudes of a group of people (Williamson & Harrison, 2010). In 1971, Canada was one of the first countries in the world to adopt multiculturalism as a national policy (Government of Canada, 2012). Since then, Canadians have prided themselves on being accepting of cultural diversity and recognizing equal rights for all citizens, regardless of country of origin (Government of Canada, 2012). However, cultural diversity presents challenges for the health care system as people of various cultures have different expectations and requirements of healthcare (De Miao & Kemp, 2010). This is not an issue that is unique to Canada, but one that extends to all countries which encourage multiculturalism. Indeed it has been found that immigrants often experience declining health and dissatisfactory medical care compared to the native population due to issues in language, accessibility, social support, and familiarity with the health care system (Pollock, Newbold, Lafrenière & Edge, 2012; De Miao & Kemp, 2010). Therefore, there is an increased emphasis for nurses and other health care professionals to develop cultural competence. As I will show in this paper, working in a culturally diverse society requires nurses to adapt their caring strategies to cater to the cultural needs of their patients. I will then expand on how my own personal experiences

Cultural competency is incredibly important to reducing health situations and improving access to good quality health care, health care that is imperative to the needs of diverse patients. “Cultural competence gives systems, agencies, and groups of professionals a chance to function effectively to understand the needs of groups accessing health information and health care in an inclusive partnership where the provider and the user of the information meet on common ground.”(NIH, 2013). Cultural competence benefits consumers, stakeholders, and communities and supports positive health outcomes. Since there are many elements that can influence health communication, including behaviors, and language, cultural competence is inevitable in order to get what you want in the classroom. Planning poorly in the classroom, planning that is ignorant to principles of cultural competence may yield false and biased results.

Currently, we all live amongst an extreme diverse population. According to National public radio also known as NPR, America's diversity remains on the rise, with all racial and ethnic minorities growing faster than whites. This increase in a diverse population plays a big role in healthcare professionals because there will come a time where we are confronted with people from different walks of life’s beliefs and cultures in the health field. Therefore, it is crucial to learn how to become cultural sensitive to obtain full cultural competence. According to Red Shoe Movement, cultural sensitivity is being aware that cultural differences and similarities between people exist without assigning them a value. By becoming culturally sensitive you are able to acknowledging the difference in cultures mean while having a high level of respect. According to the text book Cultural competence is best defined as “a combination of culturally congruent behaviors, practice attitudes, and policies that allow nurses to work effectively in cross-cultural situations” (Stanhope, M. & Lancaster, J., 2015, p.74.) Cultural competence is the key component to becoming a successful nurse. A nurse who is cultural competent views each person as unique and can assist any patient to the best of her or his ability no matter the circumstances. . A cultural competent health care system can health improve health outcomes and limit health disparities.

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

Currently, the United States is experiencing a period of profound demographic change. Our nation is undergoing an inevitable transformation into a multiracial, multicultural society and this drift poses huge challenges for medical professionals. While it is well known that racial disparities consistently plague the health care system, the prominent issue is a lack of cultural diversity in the workplace. Health care experts have been stressing the critical need to develop a more diverse workforce as it is seen as a strong solution in achieving health equity and improved care. Evidence demonstrates that the scarcity of underrepresented minorities among physicians prevents appropriate cultural competence within the medical profession, limits the