Cultural Competency

Cultural Competency
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Abstract
This paper aims to define cultural competency along with its barriers and relative applications. It is a significant part of professional life and therefore it should be introduced in the school curriculum. Being a medical professional I need to apply the core concepts of cultural competency in order to increase patients` satisfaction.
Cultural Competency
Culture is an incorporated form of values, social patterns, beliefs, practices, languages and communications whereas competence refers to the state in which an individual or an organization is required to perform as per the boundaries and limitation of culture. Cultural competency plays a significant role in cross-cultural environment where an individual is expected to project congruent set of behavior, policies, attitude and communication skills CITATION Wha05 \l 1033 (What Is Cultural Competency?, 2005). Professionals dealing with a diverse group of individuals as part of their jobs need to be exceptionally proficient in cultural competency as this will give them competitive edge in the job market along with nurturing healthy professional relationships.
Despite of the numerous benefits attached to the cultural competency, it is subject to some barriers. These barriers must be addressed effectively so as to achieve the best outcomes. These include CITATION Cul04 \l 1033 (Cultural Competence in Health Care: Is it important for people with chronic conditions?, 2004):
Language and communication barriers: These are the most significant barriers of cultural competency which might lead to patient dissatisfaction and delay in treatment. Language and communication constitutes the major part of cultural competency as they are unique to different parts of the world. Additionally different words of different language have opposite meanings which actually misguide the patients and medical professionals both.
Literacy barriers: Patients who have comparatively low literacy face imme...