Primary Care Providers Cultural Competence Education and the African American Patient: A QI Project

Abstract

Cultural competence education for healthcare providers seeks to secure equal and quality healthcare for all people, specifically minority populations. This coincides with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s Triple Aim of enhancing the patient care encounter, enhancing the populace’s wellbeing, and diminishing health care service costs. Cultural competence education enhances relationships between providers of healthcare and ethnic groups by changing the perception of healthcare experiences to one of mutual respect allowing for members of ethnic populations to be able to interact willingly and productively. Change of healthcare perception is particularly needed in the case of African Americans who have adapted historical experiences into their cultural perceptions of receiving healthcare and being able, willing participants. This project examined the offering of an educational in-service on cultural competence and the African American patient. The conclusion of the QI project resulted in an increased awareness for primary care providers in one medical center location. This was assessed by giving primary care providers an educational in-service with reference to cultural competence and the African American patient followed by a posttest. The result of this project was the creation of an open entryway for primary care providers to expand awareness of African American cultural competence. This data will help in providing culturally competent care that will prompt the enhancing of clinical results for African American patients.