Question

How can Universities and colleges prepare students—future healthcare professionals” to become culturally competent in the global healthcare market?

Answer 1

Cultural competency

In health care cultural competency is the ability of systems to provide care to patients with diverse values, beliefs and behaviors, including the tailoring of health care delivery to meet patients' social, cultural and linguistic needs. Disparities across the world are a long-standing policy challenge whose relevance is only increasing with the increasing population.

To examine the relationship between organizational and market factors along with hospitals’ degree of cultural competency is very important benchmark. A culturally competent health care system acknowledges the importance of culture, incorporates cross-cultural relations, recognizes the impact of cultural differences, expands cultural knowledge, and adapts services to meet culturally unique needs. Hence, recognized as an essential means of reducing racial and ethnic disparities in health care.

The health care market is driven by a. hospital competition, b. the proportion of racial/ethnic minorities in the area, c. metropolitan area, and d. per capita income. Under these circumstances the health care professionals are struck in their duties towards the organization which is oriented towards a. ownership status, b. clients paying capacity, size of population, Government and system around them, financial performance.

Need for cultural competence

a. Racial and ethnic minorities are disproportionately burdened by chronic illness

1. Population at risk is more diverse

c. Language and communication barriers

d. Low literacy

e. Higher patient dissatisfaction

The futuristic health care professionals need to understand following reliabilities to become competent in the global health care market.

1. Leadership and Strategic Planning

2. Inpatient Population data based on ethnicity

3. Service Area impact and diversity

4. Performance Management Systems and QI

5. Human Resources Practices

6. Diversity Training

7. Community Representation

8. Availability of Interpreter Services

9. Interpreter Services Policies

10. Quality of Interpreter Services

11. Translation of Written Materials

12. Clinical Cultural Competency Practices

Recommendations for improving cultural competency in health care organizations:

• Collect race, ethnicity and language preference (REAL) data.
• Identify and report disparities.
• Provide interpreter services
• Recruit and retain minority staff
• Provide training to increase cultural awareness, knowledge, and skills
• Provide culturally and linguistically competent care
• Coordinate with traditional healers
• Develop culturally competent disease management programs.
• Include family and community members in health care decision making
• Make cultural competency an institutional priority.