The lack of cultural competency by physicians in health care settings is producing many barriers to health care that is negatively affecting Hispanic families, such as miscommunications, poor adherence to medications and health promotion strategies, and misunderstandings that lead to misdiagnosis or inadequate treatment for Hispanics. This issue is alarming because the Hispanic population makes up roughly 17% of the entire U.S. population, which is a staggering figure that can’t be ignored. Some solutions that have been tried in the past but failed include, establishing more community-based programs to assist this segment of the population, hospitals pushing for prevention programs, and greater efforts by health institutions on training physicians to improve all aspects of communication. Although …show more content…
Perhaps the best first step, and simplest, in response to the lack of cultural competency is for physicians in health care settings to place greater emphasis on cultural sensitivity and awareness trainings to improve treatment for Hispanics. The emphasis on this solution is an important starting point that will help increase the effectiveness of future initiatives in health care.
Emphasis on cultural sensitivity and awareness is most efficacious in resolving cultural competency because the solution is both practical and simple. By providing training programs within health care settings that specifically focus on cultural sensitivity and awareness, physicians will learn to respond effectively to their Hispanic patients’ needs that show knowledge of their cultural differences. “One-size-fits all” types of prevention and treatment models cannot be applied to Hispanic patients and expect beneficial outcomes, thus “the challenge is for physicians to move beyond their belief systems and values and expand their world views to validate how others function”