Cultural Competence in Health Administration
Phillippa Strelitz, PhD, Assistant Professor, 2006-2007 Research Fellow, Health Research Education Trust's Cultural Competence Leadership Fellowship, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX
Presented at the Austin Conference
There is an emerging consensus today regarding the significance and value of cultural competence for healthcare organization and clinical care. However, the degree to which programs in health administration are adequately preparing students for participation and leadership in today's dynamic multicultural healthcare environment remains unclear. It is incumbent upon academic departments of health administration to assess and improve the cultural competence of their curriculum in order to train students effectively for future administrative roles in culturally competent
health care organizations as well as for organizational leadership in shaping the culturally competent healthcare environments of the new
millennium.
Her current research represents an opportunity to identify the mission, goals, and responsibilities of health administration programs vis a vis cultural competence, and to develop a model for transforming the curriculum of health administration programs to explicitly provide training in cultural competence through the integration of cultural competence principles throughout the core curriculum of health administration programs as well through the development of a stand-alone course in cultural competence.