South Florida has been widely recognized for its diversity. Over the last decade, there have been significant increases among all of the prevalent minority groups. While Hispanics are the fastest growing segment of our population, the number of Haitians continues to increase and this region is now home to a growing population of Mayan Indians from Guatemala.
With the changing demographics of our population and so many cultures and subcultures now represented come some very real challenges for the health care community.
Health care providers are having to strike an often delicate balance between the science of medicine and the patients own values, beliefs, and practices around health care which can obviously have a significant impact on the clinical encounter. It is important for the health care provider to know what the beliefs are and be able to work with the patient to help manage the clinical experience. So, it is important for providers to be able to functioning effectively in the context of the many cultural differences.
With the many cultures and subcultures represented, there are often language barriers for patients that are limited-English proficient (LEP). Obviously, good communication between a provider and patient is critical in ensuring quality health care and patient safety. When there is poor communication, there is an increased chance for misdiagnosis and misunderstandings.
The disparities in health status and outcomes for certain racial and ethnic populations also persist, and in some cases, are widening. Of course, the causes of these disparities are multiple and complex.
Responding to the challenges, Palm Beach County Medical Society through its Cultural Competency Initiative (CCI) is committed to providing resources to strengthen the ability of health care providers to serve the diverse populations. The Medical Societys multi-pronged approach includes the promotion of cultural competency, improving language access, and addressing problems associated with health literacy.
A best practice in cultural competency, one of the primary focus areas of the initiative will be to provide training and education for hospitals and healthcare practitioners. The essential focus of the training is on promoting cultural awareness and sensitivity and helping health care practitioners with effective ways of communicating interacting with their increasingly diverse patient base.
The trainings provide an overview of the changing demographics of our population, the importance of cultural competency, language access, and health literacy in serving this population. As cultural competency is not a skill that can “be taught”, the goal of effective trainings is simply:
- Facilitating awareness of and encourage respect for various cultures (Cultural Competency)
- Promoting the effective use of resources that address linguistic barriers to care (Language Access)
- Promoting effective communication between providers and patients by providing tools for assessing and addressing (Health Literacy)
Research shows that the most effective trainings of this sort are not lecture-based. So, this training has been designed as an experiential educational and awareness experience to provide a better understanding of the cultural barriers that may challenge a health care providers ability to provide patient-centered, quality health care services.
