Intercultural Communication and Translation News

A “growing amount of research” is examining whether small cultural differences play a significant role in health care disparities across the U.S., USA Today reports. Although, new government-sponsored studies are being conducted to determine if cultural training can help health care personnel and physicians relate better to minority patients, “no study has proven cultural competency training works, either by improving doctor-patient relationships, increasing patient compliance or reducing disparities,” according to USA Today.

Ramon Jimenez, chair of the diversity advisory board at the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, said that analysis of the issue is the first step in finding a solution to the problem. “Cultural competency will have to be on everybody’s radar screen for generations to come,” Jimenez said, adding, “When the day comes that the melting pot is truly a melting pot, then we won’t need this, but that day isn’t here yet.” Jimenez noted that physicians need time to learn how to interact with different patients under different circumstances.

Read more > Public Health 

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This entry was posted on Friday, February 15th, 2008 at 1:26 pm and is filed under Intercultural & Cross-Cultural News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.