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Cultural Competence in Health Care: Emerging Frameworks and Practical Approaches

Health is an important factor in determining a nation’s productivity. Thus, in economically productive nations, access to health facilities is a right to citizens. However, ethnically and racially diverse nations are facing a challenge in ensuring adequate provision of healthcare to citizens. This is particularly of concern in the United States where approximately twenty eight percent of the population is minorities, but they are not equally represented in the healthcare institutions. Increasing world migrations in search of employment opportunities and better livelihood is an indicator of the need for culturally diverse Medicare systems.

Despite being a challenge to many countries, healthcare provision to racially diverse society is improving in certain cities in the United States. Sunset Family Park Center in Brooklyn is properly advancing its systems to adequately offer services to an ethnically diverse community. The facility puts into consideration the socioeconomic status of its neighborhood by making flexible its service hours so as to ensure equal access to health care. Creating links with community leaderships help enhance trust between healthcare providers and patients; this makes it easy for the community to embrace services from the facility. Apart from offering satisfactory services, the facility is embracing cultural competence through celebrating diversity and training its staff and relating to community based organizations.

Cultural competence is a sure way of achieving satisfaction on healthcare provision. Promoting racial and ethnic diversity in the healthcare workforce improves trust between service providers and users. It equally enhances understanding of the needs of different races as well as elaborates on their expectations from service providers. Cultural diversity in the healthcare workforce; gives communities a sense of belonging and acceptance, as they can access services in their native languages. In addition; consumer satisfaction is an important aspect for consideration through, training of healthcare personnel on cultural competence and evaluating level of satisfaction from the society. Moreover, educational, business as well as religious institutions need to consider facilities having cultural competence when insuring their staff.

On the light side, cultural competence in health care provision is receiving attention from different institutions in the United States. Academic, government, managed care, and community health care programs are all initiating cultural competence into their systems. This is through providing translations in languages spoken in their environs, training facility workers, as well as including cultural competence in their curriculum. Increasing the number of languages used in providing services to communities makes it easy for consumers to access a facility and rely on its services. Moreover, training professionals in different languages increases ease in providing Medicare and enhances understanding of different cultural practices.

Statistics from population census show Unite States as a country which brings together different racial and ethnic groups. However; no language unites these people, this creates a barrier in communication, limits access to services by the minority and widens the socioeconomic difference among people. As a result; implementation of cultural competence in healthcare is one approach that promotes unity as it makes health services accessible to everyone and increases trust among people. Involving communities in activities promoting proper healthcare provision not only makes them confident in the services but also creates unity. It is thus in order that; people acquire a positive attitude towards enhancing cultural competence in healthcare and use it as an approach to improving community livelihood.