Multicultural Competency: A Guide to Improving Care Across the Cultural Spectrum

Course overview

A persons culture affects the persons beliefs, values, and norms, which impact how a person acts. As such, the healthcare professional and patient may come from different cultural perspectives, which will invariably impact how they interact with one another. The goal of cultural competency is to educate healthcare professionals on barriers to healthcare and the impact barriers can have on the delivery of safe and appropriate healthcare and quality health outcomes. Health teams that value diversity and share a commitment to multicultural competency are able to improve organizational policies and health employee participation through consistent community and interprofessional efforts. This can promote health equity and minimize health disparity.