12921 Cultural Competency in the Healthcare Environment

Course overview

Discussion of cultural competency in the healthcare environment, including how bias may affect care, the Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) related to healthcare provision, how ageism, disabilities, socioeconomic status, gender, and LGBTQ issues impact patient care, the role of race and ethnicity in healthcare, and religious considerations related to healthcare provision. Cultural and linguistic competence is defined by the Centers for Disease Control as a set of congruent behaviors, attitudes, and policies that come together in a system, agency, or among professionals that enables effective work in cross-cultural situations. Cultural competence requires that organizations have a defined set of values and principles, and demonstrate behaviors, attitudes, policies, and structures that enable them to work effectively cross-culturally. Cultural competence is the integration and transformation of knowledge about individuals and groups of people into specific standards, policies, practices, and attitudes used in appropriate cultural settings to increase the quality of services; thereby producing better outcomes. Providing culturally competent care in the nursing profession is crucial, and healthcare professionals must be able to recognize and adapt to the varying needs of different patients in order to provide appropriate care and achieve best patient outcomes. This program discusses how implicit bias may affect care in healthcare settings, Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) related to healthcare provision, how ageism, disabilities, socioeconomic status, gender, and LGBTQ issues impact patient care, the role of race and ethnicity in healthcare, and religious considerations related to healthcare provision.