This self-assessment assignment has revealed some urgent areas to improve. The facility I work at has no policies healthcare professionals must follow when dealing with culturally and linguistically diverse populations. Some general guidelines concerning certain processes and operations include some reference to cultural competence issues. However, there is no particular guideline as to providing care to different cultural groups. This assignment also helped me understand the steps to be undertaken to improve the provided services.
Galanti (2014) states that cultural competence should be one of the elements of staff development and training. It is also stressed that the introduction of policies is vital for the creation of appropriate organizational culture. In our facility, informal policies associated with cultural competence exist. Healthcare practitioners have (and share) certain knowledge and skills essential for the provision of services to diverse groups.
However, the process of knowledge sharing is not always effective, which leads to various issues and patient dissatisfaction. Therefore, our facility should develop detailed guidelines regarding the provision of care to specific groups. In order to create effective policies, the evidence-based approach should be utilized. It is important to identify the cultural groups living in the area of service, their needs, peculiarities, health-related beliefs, and behaviors.
All in all, our facility can fill in the gap quite successfully as there is certain knowledge and commitment. Healthcare professionals are willing to improve or develop their cultural and linguistic knowledge. We also have many employees from diverse cultural backgrounds. Therefore, the administration can come up with training programs without the involvement of third parties, which will make staff training cost-effective. However, it can also be helpful in addressing training companies and research groups to ensure the development of efficient and detailed policies.
Reference
Galanti, G. (2014). Caring for patients from different cultures (5th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.