Taking Cultural Competency from Theory to Action

This paper provides principles and recommendations for implementing cultural competency in the field. The following six principles are key to a successful cultural competency effort: 1) community representation and feedback at all stages of implementation; 2) cultural competency integrated into all systems of the health care organization, particularly quality improvement efforts; 3) ensuring that changes made are manageable, measurable, and sustainable; 4) making the business case for implementation of cultural competency polices; 5) commitment from leadership; and 6) staff training on an ongoing basis. Based on interviews with leaders in the field of cultural competency, the authors discuss best practices and important lessons in the implementation of cultural competency initiatives. Support for this research was provided by The Commonwealth Fund. The views presented here are those of the authors and not necessarily those of The Commonwealth Fund or its directors, officers, or staff. This report and other Fund publications are available online at www.cmwf.org. To learn more about new publications when they become available, visit the Fund’s Web site and register to receive e-mail alerts. Commonwealth Fund pub. no. 964.