Developing Cultural Competence in Clinical Practice

Julie Benbenishty, Seema Biswas 
(1. Medical Center, Hadassah Hebrew University, Israel; 2. Department of Surgery, Ziv Medical Center, Safed, Israel)

Abstract: Cultural competence in clinical practice is essential. Much discussed and reviewed in the literature, training in and learning cultural competence is an important aspect of professional development. There are pitfalls, however, to a learned behavior or practice that may wrongly be assumed by clinical staff to be essential in all clinical encounters to the exclusion of conversation that explores personal beliefs of self, culture and religion. One such example is to assume that all Muslims refrain from alcohol, or that all Israelis have served in the army. Surely, it would be better to ask and explore than assume what is essentially a stereotype.
The following account reviews some of the evidence behind developing cultural competence and discusses the importance of coming to terms with our own personality traits, prejudices and perceptions in order to overcome them and understand our patients so that we can communicate on the same wavelength with our patients. Our assertion is that it is communicating on the same wavelength that is the prerequisite to sincere communication, mutual understanding and developing trust essential to clinical care — especially in an emergency and critical care setting.

Key words: culture, cultural competence, language, communication