Cultural Competence and Clinical Expertise

To identify the link between ethnic competency and clinical expertise, their meanings should first be defined. pagan competence is defined by the US department of health and Human Services, as the level of knowledge based skills required to provide effective clinical care to shineed roles from a particular ethnic or racial group. Furthermore, it has been qualified and assort as behaviors, attitudes, and policies that can come together on a continuum that allow for ensure that a system, agency, program, or individual can function effectively and appropriately in diverse hea so interaction and settings. (US Department of Health and Human Services website). Although there has not been one single film definition of cultural competence in the practice of medicine in full general, each institution that has sought to define it did so within the infix of identifying ethnic differences in the general population that the medical community seeks to serve.The suppuration ethnic d iversity in the US population now soon at 15% averages in major urban centers (Elliott) and by 2050, at least a quarter of the senior(a) population (Elliott), the importance of cultural competence as it relates to clinical expertise and medical service competency cannot be denied. As such, if a health skipper is not soundly versed in communicating or visiting reactions of the patient (either the patient is the one belonging to the minority group or vice versa), the concern on diagnosis and prognosis could be substantial enough to affect the outcome of medical service provision.Different ethnic groups have their varying interpretation with regards their interpretation of certain illnesses or diseases and how it impacts their family and well being. Thus, if a health professional aims to be well rounded and claim to be efficient in clinical applications, a degree of understanding all the varied cultural differences among his/her patient population should be reached. 2. Discuss a difficult interaction you have experienced or observed that may have resulted from intercultural differences (consider that either form of interaction between 2 people can be considered intercultural in some sense of the word).Define the interaction and an optimal approach to aim it. One particular experience that I can easily draw back is an come over with an elderly Filipino couple while on art at the local community clinic. I wasnt privy or aware of Filipino customs and traditions with regards to care for the elderly in general but I assumed that like most of Caucasian elderly or senior communities, anybody 65 and above would be living in a senior community, or at least living individually of their adult children.When discussing the prognosis for the care of the husbands post operative needs (he had colorectal cancer) and early symptoms of dementia, I assumed that he would be place in an elderly care skilled nursing facility. The couple, specially the wife was livid eve n at the suggestion (or assumption) that her husband would be put away in a facility. After a elongated discussion with the wife, and a succeeding session with an adult daughter, it was only then that I came to know that Filipinos are like most South eastern hemisphere Asians. They have an extended family household setting.They take care of their elderly at home and expect everybody to participate in the care of the elderly. They cannot fathom or even begin to think of putting one of their elders in a group home or skilled nursing facility no matter how difficult the post operative care requirement is. The encounter with the Filipino couple and their extended family was an eye opener for me. When I do the assumption that the husband will presumably be transferred from the hospital afterward corrective surgery, I just assumed wrong and simply anger the sensibilities of the wife and even the daughter.It is a lesson that I will not birth again in the future. I should have put int o consideration their write more closely rather than just go over the clinical and medical aspects of the patients profile. In conclusion, because of our growing diversity in the US, clinicians should not only be aware of one or ii ethno-cultural group but be more culturally competent in dealing with each minority cultures differences and how they would possibly interpret certain prognosis and care for each patient in the family. References Cultural competence in Action Retrieved on may 28, 2007 from http//convention. asha.org/2006/handouts/855_1440Mahendra_Nidhi_091029_101806104800. pdf Cultural Competence. (2001). Mental Health Information. Fridays Progress Notes March 16, 2001. Vol. 5 Issue 6. Retrieved on May 28, 2007 from http//www. athealth. com/practitioner/newsletter/FPN_5_6. html Elliott, V. S. (2001). Cultural competency particular in elder care. Health & Science. AMNews. Retrieved on May 28, 2007 from http//www. ama-assn. org/amednews/2001/08/06/hll20806. htm US Dep artment of Health and Human Services website (1994) HRSA, Bureau of Health Professions. Retrieved on May 28, 2007 from http//bhpr. hrsa. gov/diversity/cultcomp. htm