Moving Beyond Cultural Competence Toward Cultural Humility and the Delivery of Equitable Patient-Centered Care

Abstract

In the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education’s (ACGME) 2016 national report of the Clinical Learning Environment (CLE) Review, it was reported that across most CLEs, education and training on health care disparities and cultural competency was largely generic. A “generic approach” to cultural competency implies that sponsoring institutions where training programs are seated have not made an assessment of the specific needs of the patient population that they are serving. While a targeted approach is a laudable goal, it runs the risk of stereotyping the needs of individuals in a specific cultural group. We propose that the time has come to move beyond the goal of cultural competency toward cultural humility and the delivery of equitable patient centered care – care that is delivered that takes into consideration the specific needs of the patient and does not vary in quality based on personal characteristics like gender, ethnicity, geographic location, religion, sexuality, and socioeconomic status. Graduate medical education should ensure that learners develop skills critical to delivering patient- centered care that emphasize the core qualities of curiosity, empathy and respect.