Redefining Cultural Competency: Practicing Cultural Humility.

Abstract

As humanity continues to evolve, so do new treatments and the need to continually reevaluate and improve health care delivery. Cultural competency is at the core of improving health care delivery. However, cultural competency has proven to have limitations as it relates to the importance of on-going self-awareness, understanding, and consciousness of our own biases, culture, and values in the delivery of culturally sensitive patient and family-centric health care. The limited understanding of the true definition of cultural competency has hindered and blurred the guidelines on how to best communicate with patients and families throughout their care and end of life. With cultural humility, health care professionals can begin to lean into cultural confidence with resilience and curiosity.