Providing Culturally Competent Care

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The National Center for Cultural Competence developed a validated assessment tool “at the request of the Bureau of Primary Health Care (BPHC), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Service (DHHS)” (National Center for Cultural Competence (NCCC), 2004). The intent of the assessment tool is to “to enhance the delivery of high quality services to culturally and linguistically diverse individuals and underserved communities” (NCCC, para. 1, 2004).

The tool is intended to take 20 minutes to complete, is confidential and is available only online. Upon completion of the survey a profile of the practitioner’s “Values & Belief Systems Subscale in six areas: Values and Belief Systems, Cultural Aspects of Epidemiology, Clinical Decision-Making, Life Cycle Events, Cross-Cultural Communication, Empowerment/Health Management” (NCCC, para. 5, 2004) is provided. Each section provides an assessment of the areas where the practitioner may benefit from additional education and expanded sensitivity. Resources are provided to facilitate this.

The assessment takes much longer than 20 minutes. While the tool indicates that there are no right or wrong answers, as other assessment tools have that I have used in the past, the results of this assessment were not revealing or helpful. The results indicated that I had no knowledge of the content area. The tool assumes because the responder does not use or do a specific practice that there is a knowledge deficit. This is not necessarily the case.

The county where I live ranks 62 out of 67 (County Health Rankings, 2010). The closer the rank order numbers to one the healthier the population. That takes into consideration access to health care, income...

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Cultural Competence Health Practitioner Assessment. (2004) National Center for Cultural Competence. https://www4.georgetown.edu/uis/keybridge/keyform/form. cfm?formID=277

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