Cultural Competence — Marginal or Mainstream Movement?

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As the United States becomes increasingly diverse, physicians will see patients from a variety of sociocultural backgrounds on a daily basis. Culture plays a large role in shaping health-related values, beliefs, and behavior. With the aim of providing physicians with the knowledge and skills to address “cross-cultural” challenges in clinical encounters, educational efforts in “cultural competence” have emerged. This field is not new, but it has been reenergized during the past decade as a result of pronouncements by the Institute of Medicine and the American Medical Association, among other organizations, that cultural competence is necessary for the effective practice of . . .