Compendium of Cultural Competence Initiatives in Health Care

Abstract

activities that seek to reduce cultural and communication barriers to health care. These activities are often described as cultural competency and/or cross-cultural education. The Institute of Medicine report (2002)1, Unequal Treatment, recommended that the health care system pursue several of these techniques as part of a multi-level strategy to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in medical care. This compendium is a first attempt at describing these activities in a single document. It was prepared in response to the many requests from the media and others to define cultural competency and identify efforts underway in this emerging field. In a recent article, Brach and Fraser (2000)2 clustered the techniques frequently discussed in the literature on cultural competency into nine categories: 1) interpreter services; 2) recruitment and retention policies for minority staff; 3) training; 4) coordinating with traditional healers; 5) use of community health workers; 6) culturally competent health promotion; 7) including family and/or community members in care-giving; 8) immersion into another culture; and 9) administrative or organizational accommodations.