Developing Professional Cultural Competency

Developing Professional Cultural Competency

Reflect on your own journey of cultural competency, including the concepts and experiences addressed in this course. Address the following four objectives and express your personal level of achievement of each objective:

• Explore your own cultural identity and heritage and confront biases and stereotypes.
• Develop an awareness and understanding of the complexities of the modern healthcare delivery system - its philosophy and problems, biases, and stereotypes.
• Develop a keen awareness of the socialization process that brings the provider into this complex system.
• Develop the ability to “hear” things that transcend language, and to foster an understanding of the patient and his or her cultural heritage, and the resilience found within the culture that supports family and community structures.

Identify areas in which you see the need for further development and improvement. Create a professional development plan to address these areas. Include web-based and/or community resources and opportunities for service that can assist you in working toward achievement of the above objectives.

Using a simple table with two columns label your columns Personal Cultural Need in Column 1 and Achieving the Need in Column 2.