You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know: Cultivating Cultural Agility
Many medical providers are familiar with the concept of cultural competence, which was once heralded as a primary goal when working with diverse patient communities. But the idea of being “competent” when serving communities no longer resonates in the ways it once did. Competence itself is hard to measure, and professionals often strive for a connection with patients that goes beyond mere competence.
At the same time, those in positions of authority are accused of being “fragile” or “defensive” when receiving feedback on their treatment of diverse patient populations. It can be difficult to hear when you’ve missed the mark or have been misunderstood! No medical provider ever seeks to cause harm, yet patients now feel more empowered to share when they’ve feel mistreated.
This is where the concept of cultural humility comes into play. Cultural humility teaches us that we can never truly understand cultures that are different from ours, but we can seek to be open and curious and (dare I say it) humble when working with populations we don’t personally identify with.
This session will cover the following topics:
Introduction to the concept of cultural humility, including an exploration of how humility is often mistaken for incompetence (and how to reframe that approach)
A reminder of the principles of trauma-informed care, integrating cultural humility into practices already being implemented in the workplace
Specific situations where cultural humility would be an effective tool for building trust with a patient (or rebuilding trust if it has been lost)
Breakout groups for practicing the new skills learned during the session
“We like to believe our doctors are the best at what they do. And they are! But sometimes that means they make assumptions about patients, and the patients feel that (and we see it in our online reviews). This session helped us slow down and rethink the assumptions we make about the communities we serve, and we’re much better off for it.”
