Concepts to Decrease Barriers

Cultural competency can be achieved by decreasing barriers associated with the care

of patients from different cultures. The typical method to completing this is education. By

educating the nursing staff members, as well as member of the community, we can see an

increase in the compliance of cultural effectiveness. Another great example here is to identify

variations in care related to cultural barriers, and make changes appropriately. For instance, at

the large health system where I work we have seen an increase in the Spanish speaking

population over the last five years. After recognizing this increase we have increased our live

interpreter coverage hours from 7a-7p, to 24 hours a day. Acting in a cultural competent

manner is all about identifying the needs of the patients you are serving, and providing

appropriate solutions. (Degrie, 2017)

Our doctors and nurses are held accountable for their actions in relation to cultural

care. We expect our staff to adapt and show accountability by not only documenting the use

of an interpreter, but also documenting the user ID of the interpreter from the language line.

Our staff shows their adaptability by diligently logging into the language line for each

encounter with a non-English speaking patient. Likewise, their keen awareness does not go

unnoticed. Our additional services can be best described by the use of translating services in

our discharge paperwork. We ensure that each Hispanic patient receives his or her discharge

paperwork in Spanish. Overall, our staff has a very good attitude towards the Hispanic

population and the ever-present language barrier.

Conclusion

To conclude it is important to realize that cultural competency is never “complete.”

The health system should always be monitoring the needs of their community and providing
solutions to their patients. The changes seen over time will reflect the need for new and

improved policies and procedures as they relate to cultural care. The need to continually

address the local community will stand strong, and as members of the health care community

it is our responsibility to see that these measures are met (Purnell, 2013).