Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions



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CURRENT ISSUE BACK ISSUES SUBSCRIBE ADVERTISE ABOUT JCEHP FOR AUTHORS JCEHP AWARD SEARCH (Members only) FULL-TEXT		Volume 31 (3) Volume 31, Issue 3, Summer 2011 J Contin Educ Health Prof 2011; 31(3):196-206 FORUM Educating clinicians about cultural competence and disparities in health and health care Robert C. Like A b s t r a c t An extensive body of literature has documented significant racial and ethnic disparities in health and health care. Cultural competency interventions, including the training of physicians and other health care professionals, have been proposed as a key strategy for helping to reduce these disparities. The continuing medical education (CME) profession can play an important role in addressing this need by improving the quality and assessing the outcomes of multicultural education programs. This article provides an overview of health care policy, legislative, accreditation, and professional initiatives relating to these subjects. The status ofCMEofferings on cultural competence/disparities is reviewed, with examples provided of available curricular resources and online courses. Critiques of cultural competence training and selected studies of its effectiveness are discussed. The need for the CME profession to become more culturally competent in its development, implementation, and evaluation of education programs is examined. Future challenges and opportunities are described, and a call for leadership and action is issued. Lessons For Practice Disparities in health and health care are common and disproportionately impact minority, ethnic, and socioeconomically disadvantaged communities. Training clinicians to provide culturally competent care is a key strategy for helping to reduce these disparities. Health care policy, legislative, accreditation, and professional initiatives have highlighted the importance of culturally competent service delivery and the elimination of racial and ethnic disparities. There is some research evidence for the positive impact of cross-cultural education, and a growing number of curricular resources and e-learning programs are now available. The CME profession should play a leadership role in developing state-of-the-art, evidence-based, cultural competence/disparities elimination education programs.
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