Increasing awareness and implementation of cultural competence principles in health professions education

Even as the importance of improved communication between health professionals and patients grows, the factors making it more difficult continue unabated--everything from expanding medical technology and increased subspecialization to America's ever-increasing cultural diversity. This article looks at some of the ways health care professionals, administrators, accreditors, and educators across the continuum of medical and health-related professions are seeking to increase the cultural competence skills of current and future practitioners. Many of these efforts, however, are still too recent and limited to produce measurable results. Data on the implementation of educational standards and curricula need to be collected, analyzed, and disseminated to begin to identify the degree to which standards and educational materials are being developed and implemented and what, if any, impact they are having on the delivery of culturally effective care.