Framework to Improve Cultural Competence
The key to improving the cultural competence is developing a framework that can be used by the health organization. A key component of the framework should plan to regularly train the employees working in a given health care organization (Truong, Paradies & Priest, 2014). Regularly training the employees in the place of work at least annually will ensure that the health care team keeps abreast with the dynamic needs of a diverse health population (Delphin-Rittmon, Andres-Hyman, Flanagan & Davidson, 2012).
The organization’s framework can offer to provide training for their employees create for them flexible work schedules that give them ample time to train on cultural competency.
Another strategy in the framework will come in the hiring department of the health care organization. The human resource department should ensure it only recruits new employees who are culturally competent to handle different types of patient. The HR could advertise job requirements for nurses and doctors with clear preferences for culturally competent individuals (Delphin-Rittmon, Andres-Hyman, Flanagan & Davidson, 2012). As time goes, the health care organization will have staff that is entirely culturally competent to handle the diverse health care population.
What’s more, the medical team could do well to conduct regular internal audits of their cultural competence level as an organization. Such investigations could be carried out by getting views from patients or external auditors (Truong, Paradies & Priest, 2014). The review will help gauge the group regarding where it is headed on the matter of patient. Finally, the organization could benefit by creating a benchmarking framework. The health care organization would benchmark from other health care organizations that have set excellent standards in their level of cultural competence (Delphin-Rittmon, Andres-Hyman, Flanagan & Davidson, 2012). Copying their ways will ultimately be helpful in improving the cultural competence of the organization.
References
Delphin-Rittmon, M., Andres-Hyman, R., Flanagan, E., & Davidson, L. (2012). Seven Essential Strategies for Promoting and Sustaining Systemic Cultural Competence. Psychiatric Quarterly,84(1), 53-64. doi:10.1007/s11126-012-9226-2
Truong, M., Paradies, Y., & Priest, N. (2014). Interventions to improve cultural competency in healthcare: a systematic review of reviews. BMC Health Services Research, 14(1). doi:10.1186/1472-6963-14-99
