This course is designed to develop the physical
therapist's cultural competence in health care.
Cultural competence is the willingness and ability
of a system to value the importance of culture
in the delivery of services to all segments of
the population. It entails the use of a systems
perspective that values differences and is
responsive to diversity at all levels of an
organization, i.e., policy, governance,
administrative, workforce, provider, and
consumer/client. Cultural competence is
developmental, community focused, and family
oriented. This means that physical therapy
students will promote and support the attitudes,
behaviors, knowledge, and skills necessary to work
respectfully and effectively with patients and
each other in a culturally diverse work
environment. Students should be able to use a
variety of methods to collect and utilize accurate
demographics, cultural, epidemiological and
clinical outcome data for racial and ethnic
groups in the service area, and become informed
about the ethnic/cultural needs, resources, and
assets of the surrounding community. Additionally
they will able to develop structures and
procedures to address cross cultural ethical and
legal conflicts in health care delivery.