Cultural Competency in the Laboratory

Extract

Cultural competency incorporates an awareness of different cultures, and sensitivity to the differences of cultures which results in appropriate behaviors with other cultures. White non-Hispanics currently comprise almost 73.6% of the total United States population, but this percentage will decrease to less than 53% by 2050. Laboratory practitioners must become culturally competent to deal effectively with the changing demographics. Cultural diversity will impact the laboratory workforce and the patients it serves. Laboratory professionals must become skilled in communication with all patient populations served, be aware of personal biases, and be willing to do whatever is necessary to achieve cultural competency. Skills must be integrated into education and training processes to prepare the laboratory professional to work effectively in and with different cultures.

The terms ‘majority’ and ‘minority’ will soon need to be reversed when used to refer to different groups within the total United States population. The group identified by the United States Census Bureau as white, non-Hispanic Caucasians, now the ‘majority’ or ‘mainstream’ culture, will soon become the minority group as ‘minority’ cultures continue to increase at a pace to outnumber the ‘majority’ groups in major urban areas.¹ White, non-Hispanics currently comprise 73.6% of the total United States population, but this percentage will decrease to less than 53% by 2050. Hispanics and Asians are the two fastest growing population groups and are expected to comprise 24.5% and 8.2% respectively of the United States population at that time.

A recent trend is for almost one third of the immigrants coming…