A successful partnership to help reduce health disparities: the Institute for Culturally Competent Care and the Kaiser Permanente School of Anesthesia/California State University Fullerton.

An innovative partnership with Kaiser Permanente's Institute for Culturally Competent Care (ICCC) enabled the Kaiser Permanente School of Anesthesia/California State University Fullerton (KPSA) to present a formal, 4-module cultural competency certification program within the nurse anesthesia curriculum. The goals of developing the cultural competency curriculum were to increase students' awareness of cultural differences and to enhance students' communication skills with an increasingly diverse patient population. The cultural competency courses are integrated throughout the nurse anesthesia curriculum. During their clinical education, nurse anesthesia students travel to numerous urban and rural areas to serve diverse patient populations. The collaboration between the ICCC and KPSA represents a unique opportunity for the organization and for KPSA to have an impact on patient care. This article describes the genesis and evolution of the collaboration as well as the impact of this ongoing educational effort.