Cultural Humility in Healthcare

THE UNCENTER

A Center for Empathy without Borders

8 tips for fostering greater cultural humility in healthcare:

  1. Engage in continuous self-evaluation. We need to reflect  regularly on our biases and perceptions about people from different cultures.
  2. Engage in lifelong learning and embrace the understanding that cultural humility is not a finite skill but a continuous learning process.
  3. Learn to assume the perspectives of others. Approach each patient and colleague as an individual, asking open-ended questions about their unique cultural identity, beliefs, and preferences.
  4. Practice active listening, which involves being fully present and engaged with without making assumptions based on the other person’s cultural background.
  5. Practice cultural self-awareness. Explore your own cultural identity and how it affects your perceptions and interactions with patients and colleagues.
  6. Become an advocate. Participate in training to learn how to recognize and challenge systemic biases that affect patient care. Advocate for policies that improve health equity.
  7. Build supportive relationships with patients and coworkers. Create opportunities to learn their culture and demonstrate your interest meeting their cultural needs.
  8. Practice respectful communication, including the correct pronunciation of patient names, as a fundamental aspect of cultural humility.

Sources and recommended reading:

Foronda, Cynthia, et al. “Cultural Humility: A Concept Analysis.” Journal of Transcultural Nursing, vol. 27, no. 3, 28 June 2016, pp. 210–217, https://doi.org/10.1177/1043659615592677.

‌ Tervalon, Melanie, and Jann Murray-García. “Cultural Humility versus Cultural Competence: A Critical Distinction in Defining Physician Training Outcomes in Multicultural Education.” Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, vol. 9, no. 2, 1998, pp. 117–125, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10073197/, https://doi.org/10.1353/hpu.2010.0233.

Yeager, Katherine A., and Susan Bauer-Wu. “Cultural Humility: Essential Foundation for Clinical Researchers.” Applied Nursing Research, vol. 26, no. 4, Nov. 2013, pp. 251–256, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3834043/, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apnr.2013.06.008.

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