Cultural Competency In The Workplace

Cultural competency is having the ability to understand, without judgement, who you are interacting with. This includes, but is not limited to, the language someone speaks, their religion, and beliefs. With this information you then can approach whoever it may be in an appropriate manner depending on each situation you encounter. This concept is quite important in the world of health professions due to the constant interaction with patients. For someone that speaks another first language than you, they most likely will feel more comfortable speaking in their primary language and will be more willing to cooperate. Stated in a Harvard Business Review article, a study done in 2013 revealed that, “one in five Americans — more than 60 million people — speak a language other than English at home” (Duhart, O. 2017). It is very important that who you are working with has trust in you because they are sharing their personal information and coming to you for professional help. This information will be what allows you to provide help to the best of your ability. A way
By volunteering you gain vast amounts of hours doing so and gaining knowledge of the proper ways to work with patients. You can learn how to speak another language that you company encounter while volunteering which will make you better at interacting with people that do not have the same primary language as you.
To find the best opportunities for myself, I am planning to talk with peers and mentors that have volunteered before to find out what they have done in their past. I believe that any hands-on activity would be the most helpful form of volunteering for me personally. It forces you to practice real life situations under the guidance of others. I believe this to be helpful because there will come a time that you must do so without a watching eye to help you through interactions with multiple different