Cultural competence in healthcare

A healthcare system, sometimes referred to as health system, is the organization of people, institutions, and resources that deliver healthcare services to meet the health needs of target populations. A culturally competent health system not only recognizes and accepts the importance of cultural diversity at every level but also assesses the cross-cultural relations, stays vigilant towards any changes and developments resulting from cultural diversity, broadens cultural knowledge, and adapts services to meet the needs that are culturally-unique.[1]

As more and more immigrants are coming to America, healthcare professionals with good cultural competence can use the knowledge and sensitivity that they obtain in order to provide holistic care for clients from other countries, who speak foreign languages.[8] The challenges for American healthcare systems to meet the health needs of the increasing number of diverse patients are becoming very obvious. The challenges include but are not limited to the following:[1][9]

• Sociocultural barriers
• Poor cross-cultural communication
• Language barriers
• Attitudes toward healthcare
• Beliefs in diagnosis and treatment
• Lack of cultural competence in the design of the system

In response to a rapid growth of minorities population in the United States, healthcare organizations have responded by providing new services and undergoing health reforms in terms of diversity in leadership and workforce. Despite improvements and progress seen in some areas, minorities are still underrepresented within both healthcare leadership and workforce.[2] To improve the weak minorities representation in leadership and workforce, an organization must acknowledge the importance of cultures, be sensitive to cultural differences, and establish strategic plans to incorporate cultural diversity.

According to the national survey of the U.S. healthcare leaders conducted by the search firm Witt/Kieffer, respondents viewed diverse leadership as a valuable business builder[10]. They associated it with improved patient satisfaction, successful decision-making, improved clinical outcomes, and stronger bottom line.[11]

To successfully recruit, mentor, and coach minority leaders in healthcare, it is important to keep these social science principles and cultural values in mind:[12]

• Branding - how health care leaders brand diversity in their organizations? Without inclusion, branding would not be complete
• The concepts of self-categorization and "othering"
• Lack of leadership commitment - diversity and inclusion should be an imperative of their organization
• The compelling national demographics of healthcare leadership and workforce.

To provide culturally sensitive patient-centered care, physicians should treat each patient as an individual, recognizing and respecting his or her beliefs, values and care seeking behaviors.[13] However, many physicians lack the awareness of or training in cultural competence. With the constantly changing demographics, their patients are increasingly getting diverse as well. It is utterly important to educate physicians to be culturally competent so that they can effectively treat patients of different cultural and ethnic backgrounds.

Implicit bias aimed towards certain races or ethnicities is frequent in the healthcare field, specifically in the United States, commonly with Black Americans, Hispanic Americans, and American Indians.[14] Subconscious discrimination occurs regardless of the advancement of disease prevention in the United States, as shown by the significantly high mortality rates of the groups mentioned earlier in the paragraph.[14] This discrimination is shaped by attitudes of healthcare professionals, who often differ in effort and type of treatment based on the race and physical appearance of a patient. Carrying over to the diagnosis and treatment of minority patients, the disparities in quality of healthcare increase the likelihood of developing diseases such as asthma, HIV/AIDs and other life-threatening diseases.[14] For example, a study that focused on the treatment and diagnosis differences between black women and white women in regards to breast cancer indicated this discrimination against minorities and its effects.[15] Furthermore, the study indicated that "white women are more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer, [and] Black women are more likely to die from it."[15]

The differences in responses from healthcare professionals to black patients versus white patients is drastic, indicated by subconscious negative perceptions of various races.[16] In a study that evaluated physicians' immediate assumptions made about different races "two-thirds of the clinicians subconsciously formed a bias against Blacks (43% moderate to strong) and Latinos (51% moderate to strong)".[16] Without intentionally concocting stereotypes about patients, these clinicians are indirectly negatively affecting the patients they mistreat. To remedy this, the study expresses support for clinicians to form a stronger connection with each patient and to focus on the patient at hand, rather than considering their race or background. This will help to prevent negative attitudes and tones when speaking with patients, creating a positive atmosphere that allows for equal environments and treatments for all patients, regardless of race or physical appearance.[16]

In response to the increasingly diverse population, several states (WA, CA, CT, NJ, NM) have passed legislation requiring or strongly recommending cultural competency training for physicians.[17] In 2005, New Jersey legislature enacted a law requiring all physicians to complete at least 6 hours of training in cultural competency as a condition for renewal of their New Jersey medical license, whether or not they actively practice in New Jersey.[18] Physicians' responses to this CME requirement varied, both positively and negatively. But the overall feedback was positive towards the outcomes of participation in and satisfaction with the programs.[19] The United States also passed federal legislation on Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Standards (CLAS), which is legislation aimed at reducing healthcare inequities like those in refugee health in the United States through culturally competent care.[20]

In order to provide culturally competent care for their diverse patients, physicians should at the first step understand that patients' cultures can influence profoundly how they define health and illness, how they seek health care, and what constitutes appropriate treatment. They should also realize that their clinical care process could also be influenced by their own personal and professional experiences as well as biomedical culture.[13] Dr. Like pointed out in one of his articles that "in transforming systems, transcultural nurses, physicians, and other health care professionals need to remember that cultural humility and cultural competence must go hand in hand."[21]

Cultural competence in research is the ability of researchers and research staff to provide high quality research that takes into account the culture and diversity of a population when developing research ideas, design, and methodology. Cultural competence can be crucial for ensuring that the sampling is representative of the population and therefore application to a diverse number of people.[22] It is important that a study's subject enrollment reflect as closely as possible the target population of those affected by the health problem being studied.

In 1994, the National Institutes of Health established policy (Public Law 103-43) for the inclusion of women, children, and members of minority groups and their subpopulations in biomedical and behavioral clinical studies.[23] Overcoming challenges to cultural competence in research also means that institutional review board membership should include representatives of large communities and cultural groups as representatives.

The critical importance of training medical students to be future culturally competent physicians has been recognized by accrediting bodies such as the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education[24] (ACGME) and the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) and other medical organizations such as American Medical Association (AMA) and the Institute of Medicine (IOM).

Culture is definitely beyond ethnicity and race. Healthcare professionals need to learn about the tolerance of other's beliefs. Professional care is about meeting patients' needs even if they do not align with the caretaker's personal beliefs. Discovering one's own beliefs and their origin (from upbringing or modeling of parents, for example) helps understand what is believed and moderates actions at times when others are cared for with different beliefs. As a result, it is essential for healthcare professionals to practice cultural competence and recognize the differences as well as cultural sensitivities to provide holistic care for the patients.

According to the LCME standard for cultural competence, "the faculty and students must demonstrate an understanding of the manner in which people of diverse culture and belief systems perceive health and illness and respond to various symptoms, diseases, and treatments."[25] In response to the mandates, medical schools in the U.S. have incorporated teaching cultural competency in their curricula. A search on cultural competency in the curriculum of a medical school revealed that it was covered in 33 events in 13 courses in spring 2014. A similar search was performed on health disparities yielding 16 events in 10 courses covering the topic.

The cultural competence curriculum is intended to improve the interaction between patients and physicians and to assure that students will possess the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that enable them to provide high quality and culturally competent care to patients and their families as well as the general medical community.[26]

A "visual intervention" was completed to educate healthcare professionals on the dangers of subconscious discrimination toward minority groups in order to lessen the common discrimination certain races or ethnicities face in a healthcare setting.[27] This study allowed for physicians to focus more on the problems of their patients, and truly listening to their issues.[27] By creating a supportive space that fosters a strong channel of communication, the study targeted the lack of connection between healthcare professionals and patients due to either language barriers or the patient's mistrust in the professional.[27]

Patient-Physician communication involves two sides. While physicians and other healthcare providers are being encouraged or required to be culturally competent in delivery of quality healthcare, it would be reasonable to encourage patients as well to be culturally sensitive and be aware that not all health care providers are equally competent in cultures. When it comes to illness, cultural beliefs and values affect greatly a patient's behavior in seeking healthcare. They should try their best to communicate their concerns relating to their beliefs, values and other cultural factors that might affect care and treatment to their physicians and other healthcare providers. If effective communication is unlikely achieved, then they should be provided with language assistance and interpretation services. Recognizing that patients receive the best care when they work in partnership with doctors, the General Medical Council issued guidance for patients "What to expect from your doctor: a guide for patients" in April 2013.[28][29]

Linguistic competence involves communicating effectively with diverse populations, including individuals with limited English proficiency (LEP), low literacy skills or are not literate, disabilities, and individuals with any degree of hearing loss.[30] According to the U.S. Census in 2011, 25.3 million people are considered limited English proficient, accounting for 9% of the U.S. population. Hospitals frequently admit LEP patients for treatment. With cultural and linguistic barriers, it is not surprising that it is hard to achieve effective communication between the health care providers and the LEP patients.

In order to improve communication and mutual understanding, health care systems have used the professionally trained interpreters to help health care providers to communicate with patients whose English proficiency is limited. Studies have shown that trained professional interpreters or bilingual health care professionals have a positive effect on LEP patients' satisfaction, their quality of care, and outcomes.[31]

The National Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) Standards in Health and Health Care developed by the Office of Minority Health (OMH) are intended to advance health equity, improve quality and help eliminate health care disparities.[32] The three themes of the fifteen CLAS standards areGovernance, Leadership, and workforce; Communication and Language Assistance; and Engagement, Continuous Improvement, and Accountability. The standards clearly emphasized that the top levels of an organizational leadership hold the responsibility for CLAS implementation, and that language assistance should be provided when needed, and quality improvement, community engagement, and evaluation are importance.[33] that is a very good resource for healthcare systems and organizations to follow to become culturally and linguistically competent in the delivery of health care.

International migration is a global and complex phenomenon. Many European countries, including Belgium, are experiencing increasing population diversity arising from international immigration. Labor migrants, past colonial links, and, for some countries, their strategic position in the European Union are factors contributing to this diversity. Leadership and Cultural Competence of Healthcare Professionals 2015

Routine medical care in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland is being increasingly impacted by the cultural and linguistic diversity of an ever more complex world. Both at home and as part of international student exchanges, medical students are confronted with different ways of thinking and acting in relation to health and disease. Despite an increasing number of courses on cultural competence and global health at German-speaking medical schools, systematic approaches are lacking on how to integrate this topic into medical curricula. Cultural Competence and Global Health: Perspectives for Medical Education – Position paper of the GMA Committee on Cultural Competence and Global Health 2018