If you’re considering a career in healthcare—whether as a medical office administrator, health care aide, or other support worker—developing cultural competence is essential.
Every day on the job, you’ll interact with patients from diverse backgrounds, each of whom brings their own cultural perspective, language, and health beliefs. Your ability to navigate these differences respectfully and effectively will directly impact patient care and your professional success.
In this blog, we explain what cultural competence is, why it’s so important to a healthcare provider’s career, and how you can go about developing it.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- What is Cultural Competence in Healthcare?
- Why Cultural Competence Matters for Patient Care
- How Cultural Awareness Benefits Healthcare Professionals
- Developing Cultural Competence Through Training
WHAT IS CULTURAL COMPETENCE IN HEALTHCARE?
Being culturally competent means having the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to work effectively with people from different cultural backgrounds. It’s about recognizing, respecting, and responding to differences in race, ethnicity, language, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, and cultural beliefs.
After all, culture influences how people:
- Understand illness
- Seek help for health concerns
- Communicate about symptoms
- Make healthcare decisions
- Adhere to treatment
- Interact with healthcare providers
“Your client might not communicate the same or feel the same way about their personal space or dress or appearance,” says Herzing health care aide instructor Nancy Scott. “Everything we do is influenced by our culture.”
To provide the best care, healthcare professionals need to have an awareness of their own worldview, a positive attitude toward cultural differences, and knowledge of different cultural practices and beliefs.
Think of cultural competency as a toolkit that helps you build trust, improve communication, and provide better care. It’s not about memorizing facts about different cultures, but rather developing the ability to ask the right questions, listen actively, and respond appropriately to cultural differences you encounter.
Culturally competent care is respectful and effective
Cultural Competence in Action
Consider Maria, a medical office administrator at a busy family practice. When scheduling appointments, she notices that many of her Latino patients consistently arrive 15 to 30 minutes late. Rather than becoming frustrated, she learns that in many Latino cultures, relationships and current obligations take precedence over strict time schedules. She begins building buffer time into schedules and gently explains appointment expectations while respecting cultural differences around time.
David works as a health care aide in a long-term care facility. He initially struggled when caring for Mrs. Chen, an elderly Chinese woman who seemed withdrawn and wouldn’t make eye contact. After learning about cultural attitudes toward authority and modesty, David adjusted his approach. He began speaking more softly, allowing Mrs. Chen’s daughter to be present during care, and learning a few words in Mandarin. As a result, Mrs. Chen became more comfortable and cooperative.
Sofia, a community services worker, helps refugees navigate the healthcare system. She discovers that many of her Somali clients were missing important preventive care appointments. Through cultural competency training, she learns that some Somali women felt uncomfortable with male doctors and weren’t aware they could request female providers. Sofia now helps clients understand their options and advocates for their preferences within the health system.
WHY CULTURAL COMPETENCE MATTERS FOR PATIENT CARE
Cultural competence is critical to providing effective, equitable care. In a Healthgrades survey from 2022, almost one-third of doctors said their level of cultural competency affected their ability to provide optimal patient care. And one-quarter of patients said their doctors could benefit from more training in this area.
Cultural competence in healthcare is particularly important for:
Communication and Understanding
Patients come from all walks of life, and not everyone speaks the same language or shares the same cultural norms. Cultural competence helps you recognize how a person’s background influences how they describe symptoms, understand medical advice, or make decisions about their care. For example, some cultures may avoid direct eye contact as a sign of respect, while others may expect it as a sign of honesty. Misinterpreting these cues can lead to confusion or mistrust.
“I think it would do everybody a lot of good to move somewhere where language, food, culture, everything is different, because it really lets you know how important it is to meet somebody at their level and say a phrase they’re comfortable with or approach them in a manner that’s going to make them comfortable,” says Nancy. “Don’t assume that whatever is comfortable for you is going to be comfortable for them.”
Healthcare professionals who are culturally competent are better equipped to adapt their communication style and ask the right questions to uncover what patients really need.
Reducing Disparities and Bias
Studies show that patients from racial and ethnic minority groups often face unequal treatment due to language barriers, lack of culturally appropriate care, and unconscious bias among providers. These disparities can lead to misdiagnoses, lower quality care, and worse health outcomes.
By learning about different cultures and reflecting on your own assumptions, you can help create a more inclusive environment. For example, a culturally competent community services worker might recognize that a family’s reluctance to seek mental health care stems from cultural stigma or a gap in health literacy, and might then respond with empathy and tailored resources.
Respecting Cultural Beliefs and Values
Respecting a person’s cultural beliefs and values is essential to providing compassionate, person-centred care. Every patient brings their own worldview into the healthcare setting—shaped by religion, family traditions, language, and lived experience. These beliefs can influence everything from dietary choices and pain expression to end-of-life decisions.
For instance:
- Some Muslim patients may need to pray at specific times during the day, requiring you to schedule appointments accordingly
- Jewish patients might have dietary restrictions that affect hospital meal planning
- Jehovah’s Witnesses may refuse blood transfusions
- Indigenous patients may combine traditional healing practices with modern medicine
- Some patients may prefer same-gender healthcare providers, while others may need family members present during examinations
- Some cultures emphasize aggressive end-of-life treatment, while others prefer comfort-focused care
Scheduling around religious observances or ensuring that intake forms are inclusive of gender identity is not just about being polite. It’s about preserving dignity, building meaningful connections, and improving health outcomes.
Being respectful of cultural differences makes a difference to patient care
HOW CULTURAL AWARENESS BENEFITS HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS
Understanding how culture influences health literacy, beliefs, and behaviours is immensely helpful for working with diverse patient populations. Healthcare providers with strong cultural awareness develop better patient relationships, experience more effective teamwork, and gain greater confidence in handling complex ethical situations.
Building Trust With Patients
Trust forms the cornerstone of effective healthcare relationships, and cultural awareness significantly enhances your ability to build and maintain this trust with patients from diverse backgrounds.
When patients feel that their cultural background is understood and respected, they are more likely to share important health information, follow treatment plans, and return for follow-up care. This improved communication helps you provide better care and catch potential problems early.
For example, if you’re working as a health care aide with an elderly Korean patient who seems withdrawn, understanding Korean cultural values around respect for authority and family involvement helps you adjust your approach. When you involve the patient’s family in care decisions and show appropriate respect, the patient becomes more trusting and cooperative.
Improving Team Collaboration
Healthcare teams increasingly include professionals from various cultural backgrounds, and your cultural awareness skills help you collaborate more effectively with colleagues while contributing to positive workplace environments.
Research has shown that collaboration in health care leads to fewer adverse drug reactions and lower mortality rates. When team members understand and respect each other’s cultural perspectives, they communicate more effectively, reduce conflict, and make better decisions. This is key in clinics and long-term care facilities, where teamwork directly affects patient safety and care quality.
Let’s say a conflict arises between a nurse with a Euro-Canadian background and a care aide from El Salvador. The nurse values efficiency and direct communication, while the care aide prefers a more relational and indirect approach rooted in cultural norms of respect and hierarchy. Their differing styles lead to miscommunication and frustration during shift handovers.
Cultural awareness can help each team member understand each other’s perspectives and establish clearer expectations around communication. This leads to smoother collaboration and a more cohesive care environment.
Navigating Ethical Dilemmas
Ethical dilemmas often arise when cultural values conflict with standard medical practices. Cultural awareness equips healthcare professionals to handle these situations with sensitivity and respect.
Imagine you find the son of Mr. Zhang, a client with swallowing difficulties, attempting to feed him traditional homemade congee, which violates his prescribed diet. Instead of enforcing the rule rigidly, you respectfully acknowledge the cultural importance of the food, calmly explain the medical risks of aspiration, and propose using a thickening agent on the food and involving the nurse to find a safe way for Mr. Zhang to enjoy the meal.
This approach transforms a potential conflict into a moment of trust-building, honouring the patient’s emotional and cultural needs while still ensuring his physical safety.
DEVELOPING CULTURAL COMPETENCE THROUGH TRAINING
Formal education can prepare you to serve diverse populations effectively.
Stand-alone workshops are available through organizations like the Indigenous Primary Health Care Council and the B.C. Provincial Health Services Authority.
However, healthcare training programs increasingly integrate cultural competencies into their core curriculum. For instance, Nancy explains that Herzing’s Health Care Aide program includes a course on religion and culture as it relates to care.
“We talk about dress, privacy, all sorts of things. Who in the family is going to be important? What things might you see that are sacred to them that you don’t want to touch when you’re dusting the house? What sort of food restrictions are there?”
Communication is also a major focus. “We talk about communication challenges and how some of the things that we do as far as giving care may have a different meaning to somebody else. When people are unwell, they’re anxious, they’re scared, and it really, really helps if we can try to understand some of the differences.”
Language itself can be a barrier. “For the majority of my students, English is an additional language. So I spend a lot of time having them role-play and emphasizing that if you don’t understand something, you have to ask. And if somebody just says it the same way, tell them what the problem is. Politely ask if they can explain it a different way,” says Nancy.
“Most people don’t think of rewording it. They just repeat it. But you can ask them to speak more slowly or use different words to communicate their message.”
Tools and Techniques Taught in Class
Healthcare programs use a variety of interactive tools and techniques to teach cultural competency. These include:
- Role-playing and case studies: Students act out scenarios involving patients from different cultural backgrounds to practise communication and problem solving.
- Group discussions and reflection exercises: These help students explore their own cultural identities and biases.
- Online modules and simulations: These offer flexible, self-paced learning on topics like cross-cultural communication and language access.
A study published in BMC Medical Education found that 94 per cent of students who participated in role-play exercises gained better awareness of their own cultural biases, and 95 per cent became more aware of different strategies to improve communication with patients.
How Programs Prepare You for Diverse Environments
Healthcare programs are designed to prepare students for real-world diversity throughout the health system—whether in urban hospitals, rural clinics, or community outreach settings. This preparation includes:
- Clinical placements in diverse communities
- Community immersion programs that expose students to different cultural practices and healthcare challenges
- Inclusive curricula that reflect the experiences of underrepresented populations
By the time students graduate, they’re culturally aware professionals ready to serve a wide range of patients with respect and understanding.
EXPLORE HEALTHCARE PROGRAMS FROM HERZING COLLEGE
Cultural competence isn’t a textbook chapter you memorize and forget. It’s a lifelong commitment to learning, listening, and self-reflecting. It’s about approaching every interaction with curiosity and humility.
If you’re ready to begin your journey into the healthcare field, your first step is to get a quality education.
Herzing College’s healthcare programs emphasize practical, hands-on training. Each program includes internships that place students in real-world clinical environments, where they interact with patients from varied cultural, linguistic, and socioeconomic backgrounds.
Click below to learn more about the healthcare training we offer and how it can help you launch a rewarding new career.
