Cultural Competency and Minority Health Resources

The Minority Health Affairs Committee has created a list of resources on cultural competency and endocrine disorders in minorities.  In the health field, cultural competency is the understanding of the health beliefs, behaviors and needs (based on the racial, ethnic, religious or social group) presented by your patient that enables you to provide the highest quality of care. In today’s world of diverse patient populations, physician services that are respectful and responsive to these differences are extremely important and most valued.

Note: All resources are listed as informational only and should not be considered an endorsement of the company or cultural competency course.

Asian American Diabetes Initiative - Joslin Diabetes Center's bilingual (English-Chinese) web page with interactive tools dedicated to improving diabetes awareness and management in Asian American populations.

Commonwealth Fund – Cultural competence articles available via site search on The Commonwealth Fund, which is a private foundation that aims to promote a high performing health care system.

Cultural Competence Health Practitioner Assessment – Designed by the National Center for Cultural Competence (NCCC) with the intention to promote cultural and linguistic competence as essential approaches for practitioners in the elimination of health disparities among racial and ethnic groups. NCCC information is also available en Español through their Spanish language portal.

Cultural Competency Curriculum Modules (CCCMs) – Commissioned by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS’) Office of Minority Health (OMH) to equip physicians and other health care professionals with competencies that will enable them to better treat the increasingly diverse U.S. population. Among other information available from this website, you can link to the Physician's Practical Guide to Culturally Competent Care Course (offers CME, CNE, and CEU credit) and check by state the status of cultural competency legislation being initiated in the United States.

Latino Health Care – American Diabetes Association (ADA) web page focused on diabetes management in the Latino population due to the growing incidence of diabetes and the impact of this disease on health care in the Latino community.

National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP) - A federally funded program that has culturally specific material on diabetes for patients sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As a member, AACE has joined over 200 organizations at the federal, state, and local levels to work together to reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with diabetes.

Office of Minority Health (OMH) – Cultural competency section of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS’) website containing information on the National Standards on Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS), cultural competency information guides and resources.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation – Cultural competence articles available via site search on the nation's largest philanthropy, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.  The Foundation, working with a diverse group of organizations and individuals, is devoted to improving the health and health care of all Americans.

The Committee solicited resources regarding minority health and cultural competency from all Corporate-AACE Partnership (CAP) members.  The information posted below reflects the resources received to date. All resources are listed as informational only and should not be considered an endorsement of the company.

GlaxoSmithKline has created 1on1health as a resource for various health topics, including Type 2 diabetes and obesity.  Using the ‘Booklet Library’, materials can be downloaded from PDF files in English, Spanish, and Chinese.

GlaxoSmithKline also has available for order the following items available to assist in cultural competency:

Medtronic Diabetes - has available these global education PDF resources for the purposes of enhancing cultural competency and the care provided to minority patients with endocrine disorders.

• Chinese – Benefits of an Insulin Pump
• Chinese – Introduction to an Insulin Pump
• Spanish – Bode Pumping protocol
• Czech – Medtronic Bolus Wizard
• Slovakian – Real Carb Counting

Pfizer, Inc. has developed Clear Health Communication, in conjunction with a large consortium of experts, regarding clear health care communications between physicians and their patients.  Materials are available to download; at this time, PDF materials for the ‘Newest Vital Signs’ are also available in Spanish.