An Initiative to Improve Cultural Competence among GYN/OB Providers

Authors

Lynn R. McDonald, Johns HopkinsFollow
Joshua L. Schwarz, Founder Schwarz AnalyticsFollow
Stephen J. Martin, Johns Hopkins University School of MedicineFollow
Susan Brown Will, Johns HopkinsFollow
Shari M. Lawson, Department of General Obstetrics and Gynecology, Johns Hopkins School of MedicineFollow
Tanesha Stokes, Johns HopkinsFollow
Shannon C. Riley, Health Care for the HomelessFollow
Katie Reynolds, Johns HopkinsFollow
Betty Chou, Division of General Obstetrics and Gynecology,Johns Hopkins School of MedicineFollow

Keywords

cultural competance, provider, disparities, women, healthcare

Disciplines

Interprofessional Education | Medicine and Health Sciences

Abstract

Healthcare cultural competence is defined as a process of delivering care by meeting the social, cultural, and linguistic needs of diverse populations, and should be optimized at all organizational levels to reduce racial disparities and poor patient outcomes. The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG) recognizes the importance of cultural competence and states that research should be conducted to identify and combat barriers that impede equitable care. In this prospective, pre- and post-intervention study design, we used the Healthcare Provider Cultural Competence Instrument (HPCCI) to measure five dimensions of cultural competence within the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics in a large academic medical center. The intervention was a single Grand Rounds educational presentation on cultural diversity. Baseline survey response rate was 64%. Post-intervention survey response rate was 30%. Post-intervention survey results showed that cultural competence increased by statistically significant amounts across all five dimensions. Our results show an effective and feasible method to assess baseline cultural competency in a large interprofessional clinical department. Our results also indicate that a single intervention may have some positive impact on levels of cultural competence for a diverse interprofessional health care team.

Recommended Citation

McDonald, Lynn R.; Schwarz, Joshua L.; Martin, Stephen J.; Will, Susan Brown; Lawson, Shari M.; Stokes, Tanesha; Riley, Shannon C.; Reynolds, Katie; and Chou, Betty (2021) "An Initiative to Improve Cultural Competence among GYN/OB Providers," Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice: Vol. 14: Iss. 3, Article 7.
Available at: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/jhdrp/vol14/iss3/7