Question

Reflect on opportunities for change within healthcare. Share one of these issues with your peers. Discuss the opportunity for change, the underlying issue, and the potential impact on healthcare/healthcare organization. Remember to use evidence to support your discussion.

Answer 1

Health care delivery is teamwork where every provider has responsibility for providing effective care and improve the quality of care. Everyone in the healthcare system has to play a role in order to maintain and bring the necessary changes within the health care delivery. Small opportunities within the health care organization will lead to big changes in the healthcare system. I utilize my opportunity to make a change in cultural competence. Cultural competence is the delivering of health services based on the social, cultural needs of the patient. Reducing health disparities is the ultimate need in the U.S health care system. Improving cultural competence is the basic platform for reducing health disparities. Cultural competence intervention improves the quality of health care services and also improved the services of health care professionals. Care provider should be given appropriate training and education. Apply of clinic-based cultural competence interventions. Expand the scope of cultural competence in clinical settings. The U.S consists of a number of immigrant people so that language and communication barrier is a big problem. Use of professional interpreters will reduce the barrier and improve the overall satisfaction of the patient. Improving the skills in cross-cultural approaches will improve culturally competent care.

Reference:

1. Betancourt, J. R., Green, A. R., & Carrillo, J. E. 2002. Cultural competence in health care: Emerging frameworks and practical approaches. New York: The Commonwealth Fund.

2. American Institutes for Research. 2002. Teaching cultural competence in health care: A review of current concepts, policies, and practices. Report prepared for the Office of Minority Health. Washington, DC: Author.