Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Series: Cultural Knowledge a Key Competency in Care Coordination Part II

In the next series we will focus on individual strategies that will support and promote cognitive
learning and affective learning in order to create a strong knowledge of cultural competence as part of care coordination competency. 

We have identified eight main areas for care coordinators to focus on in order to enhance their competency in cultural competence.
  1. The Basics cultural competency 
  2. Understanding cultural geography and the influence of sub-cultures
  3. Understanding families cultural perception and beliefs toward specific illnesses 
  4. Socioeconomic factors 
  5. Linguistic factors: low literacy and limited English proficiency
  6. Cultural nuances/differences
  7. Creating 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 
  8. Identifying and access internal and external resources
It is often generalized that individuals from the same country and population are the same in the context of cultures, values,  beliefs, practices, and traditions.  This is a misconception that often goes unaddressed.  Think for a moment how United States citizens living in the South are categorized in compares to people from the East, New York City.  There tend to be a perception of people living in this metropolitan are as not having tolerance for slow pace environment and not been welcoming.  If we take a poll right now, chances are that the majority will agree to this perception.  In all true, we have sub-cultures in the United States that is not associated to skin color, language, and/or place of birth.   It is related  to the demographic make-up of different states, regions, and cities.   The same applies to people from Latin America, Asia, Africa, Europe, Middle East, and other parts of the world.  There are many different cultures within a single population and it is important to understand this in order to help facilitate cross-cultural communication between patient and provider. 

In the next several posts, we will address in more details each of these eight areas.
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/

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