Cultural Linguistic Assignment

We asked the following group the following five questions in which they all answer and we followed by a group discussion to improve our approach to offering our patients an interpreter service via phone/Marti or live interpreter. We focused on both positive and negative aspect on how we can achieve 100% compliance.

Unfortunately, my workplace does not have any trained interpreters on staff. Currently, the RBHA, Mercy Maricopa Integrated Health, requires that language service go through AKORBI. This business offer interpreters for 170 different languages. This means that our agency will request an interpreter when required for clinical and/or non-clinical meetings. We also have access to phone interpretation services through Volance Interpreter. However, at times, since we have Spanish speaking staff, we will use our staff as interpreters. The RBHA will only pay for interpretation services if the ‘interpreter’ passed both the verbal and writing Spanish test.

Due to the changing demographics of our society, hospitals and health systems need to be more diverse. Employees need to be hired that match the ethnic make-up of those they serve. Training for employees to be able understand others beliefs and values will support the patient-provider relationship. Finally, by promoting diversity within the health system, potential patients will be drawn into the system for care when historically they shied away from major institutions. By making culturally proficient care and treatment a priority, healthcare organizations will decrease “the gap in health status between minorities and other majority groups, patient-provider communication barriers, poor health outcomes for minorities and the presence of biases and prejudices among some health professionals” (Hart & Mareno 2013, p. 2223). This paper, will examine Hospital Corporation of America’s (HCA) website diversity.

Providing quality delivery care is the cornerstone of Kaiser operation and addressing language needs of the diverse communities it serves is receiving attention from the National Diversity and Inclusion Office. Kaiser’s National Diversity and Inclusion was established with the objective to promote, support, and assist the regions in implementing the Kaiser Permanente Board of Directors agenda in providing culturally competent medical care and culturally appropriate services to improve the health and satisfaction of its members.

The National Center for Cultural Competence (2007) declares “assessing attitudes, practices, structures and policies of programs and their personnel is a necessary, effective and systematic way to plan for and incorporate cultural and linguistic competency within organizations.” A common practice is the use of screening and assessment instruments to deliver person-centered care to individuals in need of healthcare services. Culture becomes a focal point, philosophy and lens of healthcare service

In conclusion, cultural competency is a continually evolving skill as nurses continue to practice in a society that is always changing. Completing a self assessment tool was a valuable experience. Unlike traditional continuing education requirements, this self assessment allowed me to identify my individual cultural competency strengths and weaknesses. I have committed to two practical goals to build up my cultural competent care giving. Intervening when I observe culturally insensitive behavior from other staff will be my first goal. Secondly, developing and integrating diagrams into patient education will increase effective communication cross culturally. Maintaining cultural competency is one of the

Healthcare managers are responsible for ensuring that their organization has a plan or strategy that is geared toward eradicating health inequality through cultural competency. Best practices are of utmost importance in assuring cultural proficiency. Buchbinder and Shanks (2012) outlined these practices in their textbook Introduction to Healthcare Management: a diverse workforce, leadership and organizational culture that fosters cultural competence as well as human resource policies which do the same, appropriate training/education for all employees, linguistic services and materials, systems capable of tracking data with regards to health outcomes, and responding to and engaging the community (p. 321). Additionally, a Commonwealth Fund study provided a list of actions that diversity leadership should adhere to in accordance with the National Standards on Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) standards. Aside from employing a culturally diverse staff and patient services and regular re-evaluations of goals, healthcare leaders engage and report their progress to diversity goals the community (Dreachslin, 2008). Inasmuch as cultures change and evolve, it is suggested that cultural competence training be an ongoing process and that organizational policy and strategic plans be reassessed periodically for effectiveness (Buchbinder & Shanks, 2012). Time, revenue, and energy spent in interventions that do not bring the desired results is not

The National Center for Cultural Competence developed a validated assessment tool “at the request of the Bureau of Primary Health Care (BPHC), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Service (DHHS)” (National Center for Cultural Competence (NCCC), 2004). The intent of the assessment tool is to “to enhance the delivery of high quality services to culturally and linguistically diverse individuals and underserved communities” (NCCC, para. 1, 2004).

The facility that I work for has seen a shift in demographics since the erection of this new building and the leaders have identified the challenges this shift have created. They have recognized that for them to achieve the hallmarks of quality of care as illustrated by the IOM they would have to ensure that the standards of culturally competent care are tailored to meet the needs of their new population and it cannot be done haphazardly. Goode (2004) stated that there is no easy solution to achieve cultural competence, it requires careful assessment, setting of specific goals and planning for meaningful growth. Nurse leaders are faced with challenges since the population served by this organization is diverse and consists predominantly of minorities who are more vulnerable to health, employment, and gender disparities. There are large amounts of Africans, Hispanics/Latinos, and Asians; moderate amount of Caucasians and very few Chinese and Vietnamese in our community. In comparison the staff consists of mainly Filipino, moderate Caucasians and few blacks, Hispanics/Latinos, and Asians. In 2008, the U.S.

The culture of the United States, in this day and age, is varied and widely diverse. Regardless of what field or industry one finds themselves in, becoming culturally aware of other ethnicities is very important. The healthcare industry in particular, stresses this fact by providing health care providers continuing education classes that teach about cultures in the United States, providing translators for patients who do not speak english, and allowing cultural practices and ceremonies within the healthcare facilities. These, and many other practices in healthcare, are in response to the growing cultural diversity in the United States, and Dr. Larry Purnell’s development in 2002 (and update to the model in 2013) of a cultural competence theory

At our hospital it is our goal is to accept diversity and cultural differences. To accomplish this I suggest that we provide training on cultural competence to all

Have you ever been to the doctor and don't quite understand what the provider is telling you, or are you a healthcare worker and you don't understand your patients? Should the healthcare provider get diversity training or should they maybe learn new languages? More than ever before, healthcare professionals are subjected to dealing with a number of immense and different cultural diversities. While diversity is often a term used to refer specifically to cultural differences, diversity applies to all the qualities that make people different. Diversity requires more than knowing about individual differences and it key for overcoming cross-cultural barriers in healthcare.

In 2001, the Office of Minority Health of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services published the nation's first standards for culturally and linguistically appropriate health care services, which mandate all federally funded health care providers to offer and provide language assistance services, including bilingual staff and interpreter services, at no cost to each patient with limited English proficiency at all points of contact (Mullner, R. and Giachello, A.).

To help frame this evaluation program, the National Center for Cultural Competence provided a checklist to help guide this effort. They suggested that a cultural competence committee be formed to serve as a governing body to implement and evaluate cultural competence initiatives. Also it is important to " ensure that the program's or organization's mission statement commits to cultural competence as an integral component of all of its activities. The mission statement should articulate principles, rationale and values for culturally and linguistically competent health care service delivery. The cultural competence work group should be involved in or facilitate the development of this statement." Once responsibility is assigned and a mission statement is fully developed, this objective can be met and monitoring will be facilitated much more effectively and efficiently.

For health care workers, cultural competency is important for obvious reasons. On a daily basis, healthcare professionals work with patients of a variety of cultures, and many work with team members who come from different cultures than their own. Medical and other healthcare professionals spend many years in school learning how and when to treat patients for giving symptoms, but teaching them to interact with patients currently falls on knowing the things that make up a person’s cultural identity. Cultural differences that exist between people, such as language, dress and traditions, and the way societies organize themselves, their conception of morality and religion, attitudes about illness and death and the way they interact with the environment. Cultural competence is important in health care because the patient outcome, patient readmissions, staff retention, and labor relations all determine the outcome of an organizations success. Diversity improves the effectiveness and productivity of the workforce. Disadvantages of ignoring cultural diversity can result in a loss of revenue for the business. Company growth will also be affected by ignoring cultural diversity. Steps an organization should take to face this challenge is to implement training that cover workforce diversities and keep an open dialogue among employees expressing concerns, differences, ideas, etc.