Culturally Competent Faculty

Abstract

Emergency Medicine (EM) faculty caring for multicultural patients traditionally serve dual roles: as role models for EM residents, medical students, and other health professionals and as practitioners involved in clinical encounters, decisions, and outcomes for culturally diverse patients. The objectives for this chapter are to define the concept of culturally competent faculty, review the current literature, and delineate educational interventions aimed at improving cultural competency skills. Results of our literature search show that there are only limited publications examining the role of EM faculty caring for multicultural patients. Current educational interventions consist of implementation of cultural competency curricula for faculty, and establishment of faculty development programs specific for cultural diversity. Recommendations for improving EM faculty’s skills on cultural competency include: expanding the role of EM faculty as patient advocates interfacing with local community; incorporating cultural competency curricula as an integral part of EM residency training by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME); and implementing a special Faculty Development Program (FDP) to integrate cultural competency training across all EM residency training programs.