Standard 2: Health
care organizations should implement strategies to recruit, retain and promote
at all levels of the organization a diverse staff and leadership that are
representative of the demographic characteristics of the service area.
“A diverse staff and leadership” is key to establishing
culturally competent and linguistically appropriate health care. Although a bilingual and bicultural staff
does not guarantee cultural sensitivity, it does elevate awareness of the needs
and customs of the community. Diversity
is not simply a quota or statistic; it is a philosophy running through the
organization (from its support staff, to clinical professionals, to
administrative members).
Advantages of a bilingual and bicultural staff include, but
are not limited to:
1.
Effective Communication: A bilingual staff can
effectively communicate with patients, serving as the medium between patients
and other health care professionals. Effective communication includes both
verbal and nonverbal language; a well-trained bilingual staff can identify the
different communication approaches.
2.
Community Awareness: A bicultural staff is prone
to cultural sensitivity and able to identify the needs of a community. Recognizing the cultural nuances in a
community, a bicultural staff may serve as the bridge between the community and
health care providers.
3.
Patient Comfort:
Trust is key to health care relationships. A staff that understands patients’ cultural
needs, linguistics, and cultural differences is crucial for establishing a
comfortable environment.
4.
Cultural Brokering: a bilingual and bicultural
staff can serve as a mediator or go-to person in helping health care providers
identify issues, brainstorm tactics, and provide services to the community in a
culturally and linguistically appropriate manner.
It is important to integrate cultural and linguistic
diversity throughout the organizational structure of an organization. For example, if diversity is only concentrated
towards the lower levels of an organization, then culturally sensitive
initiatives will remain stale. Diversity
must resonate throughout the organization.
On the administrative level, cultural competence results in strategic
planning and policy making that benefits the community. Cultural competence must be part of the
organization’s mission, vision, and core values in order to engage staff,
volunteers, and community members.
Achieving a diverse staff may seem daunting at first. These four strategies may help you:
1.
Recruitment: Collaborate with educational
institutes and community programs. Form
internships, fellowships, and residencies with schools, seeking out students
who are interested in health careers or interacting with diverse communities.
2.
Create Your Own Staff: Implement programs in the community that
train members to act as interpreters, cultural ambassadors. Then, encourage these members to pursue
training in the health profession or other valuable community fields.
3.
Train Your Staff: Developing and implementing
training programs will make your staff feel empowered, up-to-date, and informed
about the community. Continuous training
also helps staff members embrace their cultural competence, education, and
skills (which can promote leadership and accountability). A staff may feel pressured to fulfill a
company’s expectations; therefore, create programs that will encourage staff
members to truly want to further their cultural competence.
4.
Retention: Because diversity is key to an
organization’s successful, it is important to retain bilingual and bicultural
members. Employees may feel overwhelmed
from excessive requests to serve as interpreter. Therefore, it is crucial to hire enough
culturally diverse staff members and oversee assignments.
Health care organizations are faced with the positive
challenge of changing their practice and image based on their stakeholders
needs such as cultural and ethnic diversity.
Organizations that are up to this challenge and take pro-active steps
toward improving cultural competence will further cement their business’s
success. Cultural competence is not an
“If” service anymore; it is part of our health care system’s fabric. Health
care organizations have the opportunity to increase quality of care, eliminate
health care disparities, and create a new generation of culturally competent
health care providers.
