Culturally Competent Care

Paper Summary:

The paper discusses the importance of culturally competent care in the hospital. The paper looks at the gap in health insurance coverage in various ethnic groups and examines the standards of the present health policies in effect today. The paper also presents strategies to improve culturally-sensitive care. The paper concludes that there are few concrete policies that categorically address the plight of minorities and therefore it is the ethical responsibility of policy-makers to look out for their welfare.

Outline:
Introduction
Theoretical Framework
Population
Population Vulnerability
Standards of Met and Unmet Cultural Competence
Impacts on Nursing Care Delivery
Solutions
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"Culturally competent care in the health workplace setting of a hospital involves the provision of effective and timely care that is sensitive to the ethnocultural needs of the client or patient. This type of care, while sensitive to the needs of people with different ethnocultural backgrounds, must not, at the same time, become biased in its provision of care, either by policy, protocol or other barriers that prevent equality in care. This means that, while unique sets of people with diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds have equally unique care needs, this should not be the basis for justifications of providers to relegate culturally-sensitive initiatives to lesser priority over others."

Sample of Sources Used:

• American Medical Association, National Medical Association & National Hispanic Medical Association (2005). The commission to end health care disparities: executive summary. Retrieved May 10, 2007 from http://www.ama-assn.org/ama1/pub/upload/mm/433/summary05.pdf
• Carrasquillo O, Ferry DH, Edwards J & Glied S. (2003). Eligibility for government insurance if immigrant provisions of welfare reform are repealed. Am J Public Health, 93(10), 1680-2. Retrieved April 1, 2007 from http://www.ajph.org/cgi/content/full/93/10/1680
• Collins KS, Hughes DL, Doty MM, Ives BL, Edwards JN & Tenney K. (2002). Diverse communities, common concerns: assessing health care quality for minority Americans: findings from the Commonwealth Fund 2001 Health Care Quality Survey. Retrieved May 10, 2007 from http://www.commonwealthfund.org/usr_doc/collins_diversecommun_523.pdf
• Flores G, Abreu M & Tomany-Korman SC. (2006). Why are Latinos the most uninsured racial/ethnic group of US children? A community-based study of risk factors for and consequences of being an uninsured Latino child. Pediatrics, 118(3), e730-40. Retrieved May 11, 2007 from http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/reprint/118/3/e730
• Institute of Medicine (IOM). (2002). Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Healthcare. Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press.

More papers on Culturally Competent Care:

• Persuasive Essay # 133621 : "Emerging Standard of Culturally Competent Care"
• Persuasive Essay # 135343 : "Culturally Competent Care"
• Research Paper # 109768 : "VHA Culturally Competent Care"
• Analytical Essay # 55661 : "Mexican-Americans: Perceptions of Culturally Competent Care"

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