Utilizing cultural immersion in a cultural competency curriculum: a conference report

Overall, the evaluations of the conference were excellent and the speakers received high marks. Many participants were deeply moved and eager to share what they learned with colleagues and family. The constructive comments centered on the large number of topics covered in a short time. Requests that we decrease the number of speakers and increase the amount of time for discussion will be addressed in the planning of what will hopefully be another similar program next year. In summary, based on this experience, adding a cultural immersion experience to a cultural competency curriculum can be very successful because this approach enables learning to occur on several levels, not just from sitting in a lecture but through actual experiences of the culture--physically, emotionally, and spiritually.