Description
Number 1- According to the Office of Minority Health, National CLAS was developed to promote health equity, enhance service quality, and aid in eliminating disparities. Practice Cultural Competence and Cultural Humility in the Care of Diverse Patients is one article I read to address one of the national standards. In this article, the issue of unfairness based on minority status in health care services was brought into sharp relief by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) report from 2002, Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Healthcare. Racial and ethnic differences in healthcare may be influenced by bias, stereotyping, prejudice, and clinical uncertainty on the side of healthcare personnel, according to the IOM report’s conclusion.Also in the article, patient-centered care is described as “offering treatment that is respectful of, and sensitive to, individual patient preferences, needs, and values, and ensuring that patient values influence all clinical choices” (IOM, 2005). In an effort to raise the standard of healthcare, both patient centeredness and cultural sensitivity are required. A clinician must cooperate in shared decision-making with patients in order to provide tailored, patient-centered care, considering the patients’ diverse lives, backgrounds, and opinions.Using the five key elements of being culturally competent—cultural awareness, knowledge, competence, desire, and encounters—could help me improve the way I practice nursing. I believe that by including these elements in my nursing practice, I will be better able to connect with my patients, build trusting relationships with them, and give them safe, effective care. By upholding these norms, a nonjudgmental healthcare system can be created, allowing patients to get care that is suitable for their culture. number 2 The National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) in Health and Health Care Guidelines are an excellent resource that clarify and inform the responsibilities of health care workers and organizations. I found that reviewing the standards was a helpful exercise to identify areas in which my organization and practice is successful, and areas that could use some improvement. The standard that I focused on was number six, “inform all individuals of the availability of language assistance services clearly and in their preferred language, verbally and in writing.” (U.S. Department of Health & Human Resources, n.d.). I wanted to focus on this standard coming from a culturally but not mandatory bilingual health care system.Canada itself is a bilingual country, meaning that all federal services need to be offered proficiently in both English and French (Government of Canada, 2023). However, healthcare although funded (mostly) federally, is managed provincially. Provincially, there is no bilingual mandate, although all provinces provide English and French services to ensure inclusion of both languages. The only officially bilingual province in Canada in New Brunswick, meaning they are mandated to provide services in both languages. This discrepancies between law and culture shows that culturally we have one need that is met, and that legally we have fallen behind what is needed. Our legal systems do not always keep up culturally.It is common practice in Canada for there to be English, French and Indigenous language text on all major navigation signs in health care systems. Reaume et al. (2020) discussed the impacts of language availability and the correlation to harm. Overall, it was determined that there was increased risk of harm for patients when they could not access care or communicate to care providers in their own language (Reaume, et al., 2020). Once that barrier was removed, there was less risk of harm. This is very telling on how important it is for our clients to be able to access care with their language needs in mind. Displaying the available language so clients know it is available, is vital.
