Five Tactical Interventions to Foster Cultural Competence in the Healthcare Workforce

Healthcare Management Practitioners and Executives should consider the strategic importance of managing the business of cultural competence in the workforce. A new trend to hire Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officers to be accountable for the cultural performance of the organization is apparent. The need to monitor minority talent acquisition and develop standards centered around metrics related to cultural cognition skill/transformation is growing. It will be necessary to develop highly specialized programs to recruit, train, and engage employees/patients/and providers. This article as a basis of research intends to provide deliberate interventions that mitigate the shortfalls in C-suite diversity, health disparities in population health, and overall lack of social ineptitude plaguing clinical outcomes in the United States.

1. Diverse Interview Panels/Task forces/Committees- Develop a diversity task force to assign accountability to recruitment efforts for hospital boards of directors, executive cabinet members, and other patient facing employees. A systematic review of extant literature reveals that clinical outcomes can be influenced best when there is a commonality between patients and their care providers. The implication is that physicians who understand the social paradigms of the patient population have greater capacity to impact change and increase patient participation/involvement in the care process. The diversity task force performance can be measured by their ability to transform the workforce to a gender/ethnic neutral environment. In addition, a skill-based recruitment strategy that considers the patient demographics will be necessary, to implement best talent acquisition practices. A focus group to attract minority talent for executive, physician, nursing, and clinical provider positions is key. 
2. Food is the new universal language- Healthcare organizations are progressing to go beyond traditional potluck office exchanges as a form of diversity expression. Food and Nutrition experts in healthcare are being formally trained to prepare food items that represent different cultures. Taking a thematic cultural approach to food service offerings has becoming increasingly common for retail hospital cafeterias. A hospitality experience similar to that of a hotel or resort can create a nostalgia for patients/families/visitors and in parallel influence patient satisfaction scores.
3. Rules of Cultural Governance- To socialize and communicate diversity initiatives into the values and mission of the healthcare organization, it is imperative to develop a set of by-laws that establish rules of engagement, and also reinforce culturally competent interactions between patients and providers. It should be clear how the CEO will expect physicians and care providers to deliver the highest quality of care to patients. Some leading health systems spell out penalties for less than favorable outcomes, including monetary fines and other corrective measures to influence the propensity of cultural offense. Healthcare organizations are encouraged to evaluate policies and procedures routinely, be sure to include language that calibrates cultural competence into the workflows, and guide decision making in daily routines to include a multi-disciplinary approach. A diversity committee should provide oversight and approval of all policy changes, modifications, and evaluate all new submissions. 
4. An Effective communication strategy- Healthcare organizations must perform community outreach to demonstrate an understanding of the needs of the service population. A strategy that uses social medium messaging and advertising to acquire healthcare preferences, raise cultural awareness, and demonstrate a commitment to patient satisfaction is highly recommended. This will clear up any population health misalignment and shape the narrative for other factors that impede trust at the patient/provider level.  
5. Build Cultural Competence into the curriculum- Beyond training and education of its leaders: Healthcare Organizations must prepare for a new generation of executives and care providers. This will involve building cultural competence into the curriculum of health programs in colleges and universities to lead the journey for the future of healthcare delivery. Nursing Programs, Medical Schools, and other licensed professional certification programs need to provide core competencies as a graduation and or board certification requirement. Healthcare organizations will need to get in front of the generational shift and develop succession plans for the exiting/retiring workforce.

The healthcare community must acquire additional knowledge of the current market trends to expand on the level of service provided by Healthcare Executives and Clinical Professionals around topics that influence/effect/foster change in the discipline.