BRIDGING THE GAP: A CULTURAL COMPETENCY TRAINING PROGRAM FOR PUBLIC HEALTH PROFESSIONALS

Abstract

Introduction: Recently, a topic of discussion within the field of public health has been the diversity of population of the United States and abroad. The world is becoming more and more diverse, which means that more and more cultures are being represented. Within the sphere of health care delivery, this means that it is important to try and cater to all of these different types of cultures. With the increasing cultural group representations, it is important for both medical and public health professionals to be culturally aware and sensitive to their patients’ needs and care. However, the sphere of health care delivery does not seem to culturally sensitive to the people that they are serving. Not everyone is getting the same level of care within the patient provider interaction, and this translates into overall patient dissatisfaction. In order to increase patient satisfaction, people are turning to cultural competency training programs so that health professionals can provide excellent culturally responsive health care to their patients.. Federally, this has been addressed through Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Service guidelines, or CLAS Guidelines, but the problem of culturally insensitive health care delivery still continues to exist. To supplement CLAS guidelines, health care facilities have mandated that their employees go through a cultural competency training programs. Cultural competency is regularly becoming important components of the curriculum in some heath professional schools. There are many different types of trainings regarding cultural competency available, however the problem of culturally insensitive health care delivery still exists. Specifically within Pima County, medical professionals, public health professionals, and community health workers have local resources such as the Western Region Public Health Training Center, which is located at the University of Arizona, however with a diverse population of different cultural groups, such as various Hispanic groups, American Indian groups, Asian groups, Pacific Island groups, and Black and African American groups, it is imperative that health care professionals receive cultural competency training. Bridging the Gap is a cultural competency training program that is designed for health care managers in order to address this problem. It is a training program that consists of three workshops and an orientation session that discuss issues of culture and health, communication between providers and patients, and how to train employees to talk with their patients. Each of these workshops will have activities that will allow the health care managers to practice skills that they will use within their health care facilities.