Cultural Competence and Awareness

Maranda Wike
Professor Lane
HCM 4630-101
November 20, 2015
Cultural Awareness and Competence
Growing up in a small town that lacked diversity can make it
difficult to become aware and competent of your cultural surroundings.
It is essential to overcome these barriers to become a successful
healthcare leader. Understanding the demographics around you help
you to become more aware of what your objectives should be and can
then lead to an increased cultural competence.
From the cultural competence self-assessment I found a lot of
areas I need to work on. I had never come in contact with several of
the items that were on the assessment, which shows my lack of
cultural awareness. I need to improve on many topics including
communication styles and values and attitudes with different cultures. I
mainly lack in awareness and understanding. These are areas I
definitely need to work toward improving to be successful in my future
career.
Cultural competence is a set of behaviors, attitudes, and policies
that we use in cross-cultural situations (Chester & Ivy, 2015). It is
vitally important to develop cultural competence to be able to work
efficiently and effectively with patients and co-workers who do not
come from the same cultural background. Diversity is a concept that

recognizes each individuals unique differences in perspectives,
identity, and points of view (Chester & Ivy, 2015). Diversity includes
more than just cultural differences, but it also includes race, gender,
age, and other ideologies. When one has cultural competence they are
able to see diversity, but do not discriminate against it. Inclusion
comes when we learn to value all people and respect their differences
to meet their basic needs (Chester & Ivy, 2015). This is important in
healthcare. Once we have cultural competence and look past diversity,
we need to take the next step, which is inclusion. This is where their
healthcare needs are met in a way in which they feel valued and
respected.
An increase in cultural competence can have an adverse affect
on the number of health disparities. This is the number one reason as
to why cultural competence is so critical in healthcare settings. Cultural
competence is most often associated with racial and ethnic differences,
but it also applies to the differences in healthcare needs (Agency for
Healthcare Research and Quality, 2014). The most popular and most
well studied type of cultural competence intervention is cultural
competency training for healthcare providers (Agency for Healthcare
Research and Quality, 2014). This shows that the main reason for the
lack of cultural competence is the lack of education and understanding
of diversity. It cannot be stressed enough that training and education
programs are essential for organizational growth. With this education

health disparities can be reduced.
I grew up in a county with less than 38,000 people, 87% of them
being Caucasian (United States Census Bureau, 2015). With the lack of
diversity I have grown up with, I often find myself unsure of what to
say or how to act around different cultures. I have interviewed a
healthcare administrator from the area on how her organization strives
to meet the diverse needs of the members of the community. She
explained that they research and then train their clinical staff on how
to manage different cultures who have different beliefs regarding
healthcare (K. Blankenship, personal communication, November, 12
2015). She works for a pain clinic, which comes, without a doubt, with
patients that have different beliefs on pain treatments. It is especially
important in this field of healthcare.
Through the self-assessments and research I have learned my
areas of development to improve my cultural competence. I have
learned how essential it is to gain this knowledge on diversity and to
how to take the next step to inclusion of others. As a healthcare
executive, I will use the knowledge I have now gained on cultural
competence to create an environment of trust and respect.
References
Chester, M., & Ivy, L. (2015). CAN. Cultural Competence, Diversity, and
Inclusion Initiative. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (2014). Improving
Cultural Competence to Reduce Health Disparities for Priority
Populations.
United States Census Bureau. Alexander County QuickFacts. (2015).
Retrieved November 17, 2015.

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Maranda Wike

come from the same cultural background. Diversity is a concept that

programs are essential for organizational growth. With this education

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