Dr. Alexander R. Green, a scientist and internist with Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), shared his insights for managing cultural competency in healthcare in the keynote address delivered at the 9th Annual GHSU Tech Fair.
Cultural competency is defined as treating every patient with respect regardless of culture, ethnicity, race or social status. Further, it involves having a core understanding of important customs, values, and health beliefs for a wide range of cultural groups. Finally, it involves having the proper verbal and non-verbal communications skills to communicate with any patient, as needed, to explore their personal customs and values.
Why is cultural competency so important? It is projected that, as of 2030, the non-white population of the U.S. will reach 40%. Today, 47 million U.S. residents use a language other than English when at home and 51% of Americans have limited functional health literacy.
The audience saw a demonstration of an innovative set of technology based educational tools called "Quality Interactions" that used case vignettes and other interactive exercises, as well as a searchable database of information and guidelines, to educate health care staff across all levels and disciplines. These tools, according to Dr. Green, have been instrumental in helping both students and professionals better understand how to adapt clinical care and other health care interactions to the perspectives and needs of culturally diverse individuals.
Dr. Green is Associate Director of the Disparities Solutions Center at MGH, Senior Scientist at the MGH Institute for Health Policy and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Green’s work centers on culturally and linguistically competent approaches to quality improvement, clinician biases as root causes of racial and ethnic disparities in health care, and education for health professionals on effective cross-cultural care. He has served on numerous expert panels and advisory boards including the JCAHO Hospitals, Language, and Culture project, and he chairs the Cross Cultural Care Committee at Harvard Medical School.
Comments