Strategies To Improve Cultural Competence
At Lovelace Rehab facility there is room to improve the cultural competency of the organization as a whole. This paper will briefly describe some strategies that could be used to improve the cultural competency of the health care team that is Lovelace Rehabilitation center. The rehabilitation facility could start by addressing the social incompetence of its employees. Lovelace could achieve this by training the doctors, nurses, physiotherapists and other staff working at the health facility (Dreachslin, Gilbert & Malone, 2013). The management could put it as a requirement for hire and annually review the cultural competency of its staff. The staff could be taught to understand the role of the patient’s family in care provision v.
Secondly, it is important for the Lovelace fraternity to function as a unit. If members of the fraternity come across patients who have diverse ethnic backgrounds or religions, they should utilize other members of the Lovelace fraternity that share the trait with the patient because they will be more helpful in understanding and meet the health demands of the patient (Dreachslin, Gilbert & Malone, 2013). Another key strategy that improves the cultural competency of an organization is the abstinence from stereotyping. All the employees at Lovelace should refrain from stereotyping patients that come from a culture different to theirs (Truong, Paradies & Priest, 2014). They should accept all patients as people in need who require rehabilitation.
In addition to refraining from the habit of stereotyping, the employees at Lovelace should always try to assess the culture of the patient; this can be done through evaluating the language of the patient, their ethnicity, and even religion. This will be helpful for those patients who may not willingly reveal or disclose their particular culture (Dreachslin, Gilbert & Malone, 2013). Finally, it is important that the staff ask the patient or their family if they have alternative customary methods of rehabilitation after stroke. The employees can then adapt their plan of care to suit the patient (Truong, Paradies & Priest, 2014). Observing all these strategies will certainly improve the cultural competency levels at Lovelace Rehabilitation facility.
References
Dreachslin, J., Gilbert, M., & Malone, B. (2013). Diversity and cultural competence in health care (1st ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
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
