Quality Interactions (Cultural Competency Training)

LanguageLine Academy offers healthcare clients cultural competency training through Quality Interactions®, an e-learning program that provides case-based instruction on cross-cultural healthcare. This interactive program builds a framework of knowledge and skills for delivering quality care to patients across cultures by focusing on common healthcare scenarios.

What is cultural competence?

According to the Commonwealth Fund, Cultural Competence in Health Care Report, cultural competence in health care describes the ability of systems and health care professionals to provide high quality care to patients with diverse values, beliefs and behaviors, including tailoring delivery to meet patients’ social, cultural and linguistic needs.

Benefits of cultural competency

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) Standards, released in 2000, provide policy and practice guidelines for health care systems to improve the quality of health care they deliver to culturally diverse populations. Among these federal standards is cultural competence training for health care professionals.

States such as New Jersey and California are now requiring cultural competency training to be embedded in continuing medical education and as a requirement for licensure. Other states such as New York, Arizona and Illinois have legislation pending regarding incorporating cultural competency training into health care curriculums.

Medical schools and other health professions training programs are now required to teach cultural competence as a condition for accreditation.

Many medical malpractice insurers are now providing health professionals discounts on their premiums for completing continuing medical education courses in provider‐patient communication and cultural competence.

Quality Interactions for Physicians

This evidence-based, case-based learning program features three patient cases and allows the clinician to participate in realistic clinical encounters while learning key concepts and skills for delivering effective cross-cultural care.

Quality Interactions for Nurses and Case Managers

An evidence-based, case-based learning program similar to the physicians’ version, allows nurses and other health care professionals to interact with patients in realistic clinical settings to learn about providing effective cross-cultural care.

Quality Interactions Refresher Courses

Similar in structure to the two-hour course for physicians and nurses, each refresher course presents one new cross-cultural patient case. Refresher cases help to reinforce the major concepts learned in the two-hour course while presenting a new clinical scenario.

Quality Interactions for Health Care Employees

This web-based, interactive program teaches many of the same concepts and skills as the original Quality Interactions program, but is geared toward all employees in health-related organizations rather than clinical staff. The program teaches concepts and skills for understanding and interacting effectively with individuals from culturally diverse backgrounds including patients, customers, and coworkers.

Cultural Competency Resource Center

Our Cultural Competency Resource Center Website helps healthcare professionals access vitally important information that will help them better communicate and care for patients of diverse cultural backgrounds. Within the website is the content from all the Quality Interactions® training programs, as well as additional helpful tips on different cultures and health beliefs, use of interpreters, and clinical cross-cultural issues.

Facilitator’s Guide

Guidelines for healthcare organizations to conduct live, tailored follow-up sessions for learners who have completed the Quality Interactions program.

Live Training/Train the Trainer

We provide live leadership training sessions, large group seminars, and train-the-trainer programs to develop expertise within an organization to facilitate live sessions using the facilitator’s guide.

The Language Proficiency Test assesses

• Listening and speaking
• Comprehension
• Pronunciation and enunciation
• Register
• Grammatical correctness
• Use of idiomatic expressions

The Interpreter Skills Test assesses

• Fluency in English and the tested language
• Interpreting skills
• Interpreting protocols
• Industry terminology required for specific settings
• Customer Service and Professionalism

CO-FOUNDERS OF QUALITY INTERACTIONS^®

Joseph R. Betancourt, MD, MPH

• Director, The Disparities Solutions Center
• Senior Scientist, Institute for Health Policy, Mass General Hospital
• Director for Multicultural Education, Mass General Hospital
• Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School

Alexander R. Green, MD, MPH

• Associate Director, The Disparities Solutions Center
• Senior Scientist, Institute for Health Policy, Mass General Hospital
• Chair, Cross-Cultural Care Committee, Harvard Medical School

J. Emilio Carrillo, MD, MPH

• Vice President of Community Health Development of the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital
• President and Chief Medical Officer of the NewYork-Presbyterian Community Health Plan where he directs the Institute of Healthcare Access Research
• Associate Professor of Clinical Public Health, and Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University

Quality Interactions E-Newsletter

Quarterly e-newsletter for all Quality Interactions participants that reinforces specific learning areas and provides updates on latest research and policy on cross-cultural care and disparities.

Have a question about Quality Interactions? Submit questions or comments below, along with your contact information, and we will respond to you quickly.

For more information, email us at customercare@languageline.com