Building a Multicultural Team
Building
a Multicultural Team
Cultural diversity and
tolerance is one of the pillars of foundation that the US is well-known for
across the globe. In fact, diversity in the US continues to grow at rapid
rates. According to the 2010 census more than one-third of the US population
reported their race and ethnicity to be non-Hispanic white, demonstrating a 30%
increase since 2000. This increase in diversity calls for the need for
multicultural, culturally competent healthcare teams in hospitals and other
healthcare institutes such as nursing homes, rehabilitation facilities, etc. As
a matter of fact, various research shows that multicultural healthcare models
can improve patient outcomes by overcoming the language barrier (1 in every 10
individuals in the US are not fluent in English) and providing culturally
sensitive outreach interventions.
Registered dietitians,
especially those in management positions need to embrace this model in their
department to help improve the organization’s overall services, decrease
communication barriers with patients, and to improve patient compliance, satisfaction,
and quality care and services by focusing on culturally sensitive patient
services and patient-centered care. In addition, managers can expect to see
higher productivity with less time expended miscommunicating, ensuring patient
safety by less misunderstanding between the patient and RD. Besides
incorporating a nutrition team that consists of multicultural, culturally
competent nutrition professionals, RDs in management can encourage culturally sensitive
care by working closely with foodservice management to ensure that the menus
are culturally and ethnically diverse, and translated into multiple languages
that align with the cultural composition of their patient population.
-KP
References
Tempest,
M. (2012). Building a multicultural team. Today’s
Dietitian, 14(7), 36. Retrieved from http://www.todaysdietitian.com/newarchives/070112p36.shtml
Seman,
S. J. (2014). One in ten people living in the United States can’t speak fluent
English. Townhall. Retrieved from http://townhall.com/tipsheet/sarahjeanseman/2014/09/24/one-in-ten-americans-cant-speak-fluent-english-n1896278
Because the United States is a multicultural nation, it is important for dietitians to be able to verbally communicate with their patients and clients. Equally important is understanding the patients/clients cultural and ethnic practices. Moving forward, our profession should began to actively recruit other cultures and ethnicities to reflect the diversity of our country.
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