Youngstown Daily Legal News

Education of diverse cultures sought for health care professionals

TIFFANY L. PARKS
Special to the Legal News
Published: October 15, 2015

Officials from the Ohio Psychological Association, Multiethnic Advocates for Cultural Competence and Ohio Commission on Minority Health have testified in favor of a bill that would require certain health care professionals to complete instruction in cultural competency.

Dr. Cathy McDaniels Wilson, a licensed clinical psychologist and past president of the OPA, said that as the U.S. becomes a more ethnically and racially diverse country, health care systems and providers need to be able to respond to varied perspectives, values, beliefs and behaviors.

“At the present time, our medical workforce has not (been) able to keep pace with our population changes,” she said. “For example, in psychology only 3 percent of our OPA members identify themselves as African American and only 1.5 percent as Hispanic/Latino. Failure to understand and manage sociocultural differences can have significant health consequences for minority groups in particular.”

Senate Bill 33, sponsored by Sen. Charleta Tavares, would generally require dentists, registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, optometrists, pharmacists, physicians, psychologists, independent social workers, social workers and social work assistants to obtain instruction or continuing education in cultural competency in order to receive or renew their professional licensure, certification or registration.

The bill would require the pertinent licensing boards to adopt rules establishing the amount of instruction required and waiver criteria.

The proposal recently had its second hearing before the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.

Deborah Nixon-Hughes, MACC interim director, said research has indicated that racial, cultural and ethnic populations have higher rates of disease, disability and death and tend to receive a lower quality of health care.

“Health care providers need to recognize and address the unique culture, language and health literacy of diverse consumers and communities,” she said.

“As a licensed behavioral health care professional with over 38 years of experience, I have witnessed firsthand the tragic outcomes to patients/consumers of health care as well as the negative financial impact on systems that can occur due to culturally incompetent health care professionals.”

From a consumer perspective, Nixon-Hughes said it can be frustrating to have a cultural barrier with a health care professional.

“Professionals can unintentionally diminish or ignore the opinions and health care needs of these populations,” she said.

“The Industry Collaboration Efforts committee informs us that one’s culture informs health care professionals their concept of health and healing; how illness, disease and their causes are perceived; and the behaviors of individuals within the population that are seeking care and their attitudes toward health care providers.”

Thus, Nixon-Hughes said cultural competency educational classes are critical to high quality service delivery that is respectful of and responsive to the needs of diverse consumers.

“The passage of SB 33 is essential and an opportunity to begin to improve health care outcomes for diverse populations and begin the process to reduce health care disparities while also managing health care costs,” she said.

“This bill is a win, win for consumers as well as health care systems. Our state cannot afford to not act this time.”

Angela Dawson, director of the Ohio Commission on Minority Health, noted that culture refers to integrated patterns of human behavior that include the language, thoughts, communications, actions, customs, beliefs, values and institutions of racial, ethnic, religious or social groups.

“Competence implies having the capacity to function effectively as an individual and an organization within the context of the cultural beliefs, behaviors and needs presented by consumers and their communities,” she said.

“According to the National Institute of Health, providers of health information or health care, must be aware of the influence culture has on belief systems surrounding health, healing, wellness, illness, disease and delivery of health services.”

Dawson said the concept of cultural competency has a positive effect on patient care delivery by enabling providers to deliver services that are respectful of and responsive to the health beliefs, practices and cultural and linguistic needs of diverse patients.

“The percentage of Americans who are racial and ethnic minorities and who speak a primary language other than English continues (to) grow rapidly,” she said.

“By tailoring services to an individual’s culture and language preference, health professionals can help bring about positive health outcomes for diverse populations.”

With growing concerns about health inequities and the need for health care systems to reach increasingly diverse patient populations, Dawson said cultural competence has become more and more a matter of local, state and national concern.

At the state level, she said more than 60 languages are spoken across Ohio.

“This rapid growth in our diversity is indicative of the importance of taking necessary policy and legislative actions to ensure our health care professionals are equipped to provide quality services that can lead to improved health outcomes,” she said.

No later than 90 days after the bill’s effective date, each applicable licensing board would have to approve one or more continuing education courses that address cultural competency in health care treatment.

To be approved, a course must include instruction in addressing the problems of race and gender-based disparities in health care treatment decisions.

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