Introduction
Cultural sensitivity programs among healthcare workers are mainly aimed at improving the cultural competency of such workers. Cultural competency refers to the policies and attitudes that appreciate the cultural differences of the clients visiting a healthcare facility; and that engage such communities in a manner that enhances their health; and that in the long run empower the community to take care of themselves in regards to health matters. The cultural behaviors of the patients are integrated into the methods and traditions of practice of the healthcare agency and adopted by the various medical professionals to enable them to function successfully in a cross-cultural set up.
There can be barriers that prevent healthcare providers from being sensitive to the unique need of their patients in regards to cultural diversity. This results in disparities in provision of healthcare between the various ethnic minority groups. Some of these barriers include a lack of cultural diversity representation among the staff of the facility, systems that are not equipped to handle patients from different cultural backgrounds (Woloshin, 1995). Finally, the lack of means of effective communication between the healthcare workers and the patients also contributes to a disparity in provision of healthcare to persons of diverse ethnic backgrounds.
Literature review
Culture can be identified as a unique set of learned beliefs that are shared between a set of people who identify themselves as a distinct entity among the general population. Their unique characteristics include language, social structures, customs, practices and values (Robins et al, 1998; Donini-Lenhoff and Hedrick, 2000). The culture is determined in addition to other factors by gender, language race and ethnic origin; it also extends to sexuality, religion and socioeconomic outlook.
The disparities in the quality of healthcare provided in a healthcare agency can be attributed to various factors determined by the culture of the patient. Some of these issues include the interaction between the provider and the patient, the ability of the patient to recognize that s/he has the symptoms of a disease, the level of illness the patient endures before seeking healthcare, sentiments of racial segregation and mistrust, reluctance to get involved in some diagnostic procedures (for example due to taboos) and inability to comprehend the treatment regime (Denboba et al, 1998; Gornick 2000).
In order to achieve cultural competence in our healthcare systems, the practice of standardizing the provision practice has to be abandoned. Studies have linked cultural sensitivity directly with the reduction of disparity between racial and ethic minorities in health provision (Denboba et al, 1998).
Development of Culturally sensitive Healthcare systems
In order for a healthcare system to be adequately sensitive to the diversity of the users, then reform has to start from the leadership so as to influence the whole organizational structure. Administrative bodies such as boards of trustees and senior management have to have representation of cultural diversity of the target community. During the recruitment of these people, a strategic approach of cultural representation should be taken in order to incorporate preferably advocates of the community health from minority sections.
The structure of the healthcare system has been blamed for the disparity of healthcare provision to minority clients; one such area has been the lack of language diversity or interpretation that has been directly linked to poor health services, customer dissatisfaction poor understanding of treatment regime and thus poor compliance to it; all these leading to poor services (Flores et al, 1998; Morales et al, 1999; Woloshin, 1995). By failing to survey the satisfaction of the client or if they fail to integrate the findings of such surveys into their day to day functions, these barriers will continue to stand in the way of optimum healthcare provision. Systems also need to create databases on racial/ethnic diversity and/or disparity to allow them to effectively plan for provision of services to mitigate such, for example language interpretation (Fiscella, 2000).
Training of healthcare providers should be a major effort; this should aim both at the management and the clinical staff that has direct contact with the patients (Carrillo et al 1999; Berlin & Fowkes, 1983). Such training is aimed not only at improving the ability of the provider to engage the patient in a sensitive manner, but also to remove stereotypes that may form a barrier. Additionally, training should focus on a better understanding of the patient’s socioeconomic status, effective communication and racial bias.
The issue of curriculum in medical training institutions is also of major importance. Currently, there is a great disparity in the involvement of the medical training fraternity to incorporate cultural competence in their curricula. Additionally, number of members who are willing to teach this subject is not satisfactory. Development of cultural sensitivity programs should incorporate funding of such training programs in medical schools and residency programs; and dedication of staff to train future clinicians on cultural competence. Additionally, community health advocates should be incorporated in the formulation of relevant training curricula so as to have programs that are as comprehensive as possible.
Conclusion
Cultural disparity in the quality has been recognized as a problem affecting healthcare provision. Additionally, the specific issues that cause this disparity have been identified by various studies. It therefore would be very unfortunate if no action would be taken to remedy this problem. Additionally, the population is becoming increasingly diverse in terms of ethnic and racial diversity; consequently, failure to attack this issue now may lead to a gross lowering of standards of the whole country due to the cited barriers and disparity.
References
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