Cultural Knowledge a Key Competency in Care Coordination Part I
We begin this series by highlighting the function of care coordination. A care coordinator coordinates and links patients to services and resources in a cohesive and coordinated manner to achieve optimal and continues health care.
Extensive literature describes care coordination as a core component of patient-centered approach by providing coordination of care, referral and follow-up, and quality improvement driven.
Many initiatives are in progress at the local, state, and federal level with the single goal of containing health care cost. Patient-centered medical home and health home are some of those initiatives, no matter what we call it; it boils down to the provision of patient-centered care though care coordination.
As many literature reviews show it, care coordination is the key to coordinate and monitor patient’s access, services, and monitoring of health care services.
One main factor that needs to be considered is the appropriate training of care coordinators; it can be one individual or the entire care team. No matter which model is used, care coordination should emphasize cultural understanding and strategies for being more effective while working with multicultural populations.
Here are some tips:
• Identify the population that you are or will work with?
• Identify for sub-cultures within a single population
• Identify potential cultural and linguistic barriers
• Identify health literature and literacy concerns
• Be aware of cultural nuances
• Understand family's dynamics within the culture context
• Understand families cultural perception and beliefs toward specific illnesses
• Create a framework for a care plan that meets health history, family dynamics, traditional and non-traditional treatments, social, educational, quality of life, safety, and culture.
• Identify and access internal and external resources
• Use simple language when communicating medical definitions and information
There are many other elements that we can identify when framing a care coordinator competencies. But if you follow the above framework, it will get you started on the right path.
Author
Helen E. Dao is the President and CEO at her company Dao Management Consulting Services, Inc. (www.daoconsultingservices.com) Helen has been working on cultural diversity and public health strategies development for 11 years. You can follow her on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/#!/daoconsulting and @ her blog http://daoconsultingservices.blogspot.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment