Cultural Humility and Cultural Competency
HPSM is committed to supporting our network of providers with tools to ensure culturally appropriate services.
At the individual level, cultural awareness will ensure that HPSM members—your patients—feel heard, understood, and supported in their healthcare experience. At the community level, culturally informed care can help reduce racial and ethnic disparities in health care.
Definitions
Cultural Humility
An ongoing practice of self-reflection in order to better understand one’s biases and privileges, manage power imbalances, and maintain a stance that is open to others in relation to aspects of their cultural identity that are most important to them. Strategies for practicing cultural humility include:
- Practicing self-reflection, including awareness of your beliefs, values, and implicit biases
- Recognizing what you don’t know and being open to learning as much as you can
- Being open to other people’s identities and empathizing with their life experiences
- Acknowledging that the patient is their own best authority, not you
- Learning and growing from people whose beliefs, values, and worldviews differ from yours.
Cultural Competency
A developmental process in which one achieves increasing levels of awareness, knowledge, and skills along a continuum, improving one’s capacity to work and communicate effectively in cross-cultural situations. Strategies for practicing cultural competency include::
- Learning about your own and others’ cultural identities
- Combating bias and stereotypes
- Respecting others’ beliefs, values, and communication preferences
- Adapting your services to each patient’s unique needs
- Gaining new cultural experiences
HPSM Network Resources
HPSM holds trainings for providers on cultural humility and cultural competency quarterly. To receive invitations, please make sure we have the best email and fax phone number to reach you. You can update your info here.
To review past presentations, please visit our Provider Learning Lab.