Nursing

  The Joint Commission defines cultural competency as: the ability of health care providers and health care organizations to under- stand and respond effectively to the cultural and language needs brought by the patient to the health care encounter. (2010, p. 91) They further recognize that: cultural competence requires organizations and their personnel to: (1) […]

Building Cultural and Linguistic Competence ■ 13 Centered Care: A Roadmap for Hospitals. The monograph provides checklists to improve effective communication during the admission, assessment, treatment, end-of-life, and discharge and transfer stages of a given patient’s hospitalization trajectory. They strongly state that: Every patient that enters the hospital has a unique set of needs—clinical symptoms

Institutional Mandates Since 2003] Institutional Mandates Since 2003, the Joint Commission has been actively pursuing a course that en- sures that cultural and linguistic competency standards become a part of their accreditation requirements. Since this time, they have published several docu- ments relevant to this topic and in 2010 they published a monograph, Advanc- ing

steps to provide meaningful access to Limited English Proficiency To avoid discrimination based on national origin, Title VI and its imple- menting regulations require recipients of federal financial assistance to take rea- sonable steps to provide meaningful access to Limited English Proficiency (LEP) persons. Therefore, under the provisions of Title VI of the Civil Rights

Linguistic Competence Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 states, “No person in the United States shall, on ground of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participa- tion in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance” (Dirksen Congressio- nal

Culturally sensitive Culturally sensitive—the provider possesses some basic knowledge of and constructive attitudes toward the health/HEALTH traditions ob- served among the diverse cultural groups found in the setting in which he or she is practicing. Place Your Order Here!

Culturally appropriate Culturally appropriate—the provider applies the underlying back- ground knowledge that must be possessed to provide a patient with the best possible health/HEALTH care. Place Your Order Here!

Culturally competent —within the delivered care, the provider under- stands and attends to the total context of the patient’s situation and this is a complex combination of knowledge, attitudes, and skills. Place Your Order Here!

Building Cultural and Linguistic Competence ■ 11 ■ Cultural Competence Cultural competence implies that professional health care must be developed to be culturally sensitive, culturally appropriate, and culturally competent. Cultur- ally competent care is critical to meet the complex culture-bound health care needs of a given person, family, and community. It is the provision of

Speaking of Culturally Competent Care 4. Health care organizations must offer and provide language assistance services, including bilingual staff and interpreter services, at no cost to each patient/consumer with limited English proficiency at all points of contact, in a timely manner during all hours of operation. 5. Health care organizations must provide to patients/consumers in