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SPOTLIGHT ON RESOURCES
In the past year, we've seen racial and ethnic disparities in health care and health outcomes move from the ranks of strongly suspected problems to the A-list of documented, system-wide failures.
As researchers, educators and health care organizations struggle to identify the reasons for these disparities and eliminate them, it's critical to address one of the most likely culprits: failure to provide patients with care that acknowledges and adjusts to their diverse social, cultural and linguistic needs -- in other words, failure to provide culturally competent care.
This month, the spotlight on resources falls on a new report supported by the Commonwealth Fund. Entitled "Cultural Competence in Health Care: Emerging Frameworks and Practical Approaches," the document -- like most of its predecessors in the area of cultural competence -- speaks directly to institutions that deliver health care and train clinicians.
However, researchers seeking ways to translate basic research into effective interventions can also glean insights from the diverse models of culturally competent care highlighted in the report, which are drawn from academia, government, managed care and community health.
To access the report in PDF format, go to www.cmwf.org.
And while you're on the Internet, we recommend visiting http://www.omhrc.gov/clas. This site documents efforts spearheaded by the Office of Minority Health at HHS to develop national standards for culturally and linguistically appropriate services (CLAS) in health care.
The backbone of the executive summary, issued in March 2001 and available from the site as a PDF, is a set of 14 standards for CLAS. OMH describes these as "developed and refined with significant input from a nationwide public comment process and the guidance of two national project advisory committees." Each of the standards is accompanied by commentary that defines key concepts and issues and a discussion that examines critical implementation issues.
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