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Toolkits

Universal symbols in health care workbook

This document discusses the importance and practical advantages of easily interpreted and widely applied symbols in signage and offers a set of 28 symbols specifically designed for use in health care …
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Education and Training

California Healthcare Interpreting Association

Association membership is open to individuals or organizations. The site provides standards for interpreters, training opportunities, a job board for members, and notice of events and conferences.
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Scientific Papers

Crossing the language chasm

The authors review evidence for a link between linguistic competence and the quality of health care delivered. Language assistance strategies are discussed. The authors also examine the experiences, i…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Education and Training

Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreters

Established in 2009, CCHI offers a certification created by health care interpreters for health care interpreters. The certification program is vendor neutral, meaning that it is "based on data from t…
Added/Updated: 03/13/2015
Scientific Papers

Doctoring across the language divide

The author, who speaks three languages, recounts her experience with a patient who spoke none of those three and the difference made by a trained medical interpreter.
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Education and Training

Cross-Cultural Communication Systems, Inc.

CCCS provides cultural-linguistic services (e.g., interpretation, translation, and training) to health care, legal, business, and academic organizations. Round-the-clock emergency interpreter service …
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Scientific Papers

Health literacy: the road to improved health outcomes

The authors note that people's behavior and decisions are affected by their levels of health literacy, with low health literacy leading to poor health outcomes. They review research on health literacy…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Education and Training

Language testing options 2008

This document lists 35 resources available on the Internet to assess the foreign language proficiency of interpreters. These are organized into four categories: (1) language proficiency testing, (2) p…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Education and Training

Hablamos Juntos: Language policy and practice in health care

Hablamos Juntos ("We Speak Together") is developing affordable models of language services in health care organizations through the funding of 10 demonstration sites in regions, both rural and urban, …
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Audio or Video

Qualified Interpreting for Quality Health Care

This 19-minute training video for clinical staff covers such topics as the importance of using qualified interpreters, confidentiality and other key protocols for interpreters, the role of culture, an…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Education and Training

The health literacy & plain language resource guide

Writing that is clear, to the point, and directed to the target audience is presented as a good strategy to improve health literacy. This guide offers links to Web pages, initiatives, action plans, re…
Added/Updated: 01/03/2014
Education and Training

Language Access and the Law: Caring for the LEP Patient

This interactive e-learning course was designed to increase the understanding of medical professionals about the reasons (e.g., business, legal, and medical) for providing language services. The cours…
Added/Updated: 03/16/2015
Reports and Briefs

Medical interpreting standards of practice

As the introduction points out, although it is contrary to common belief, the clinical interview relies heavily on language. This document delineates the core performance standards for professional in…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Education and Training

International Medical Interpreters Association

This professional association's website offers links to a wide variety of information and services: training; an ethical code in many languages; standards of practice; advocacy activities; research; e…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Reports and Briefs

A medical interpreter's guide to telephone interpreting

The author provides answers to questions often asked by medical interpreters about interpreting via telephone. The article addresses such topics as the quality of telephonic versus in-person or video …
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Education and Training

Limited English proficiency: A federal interagency website

This site exists to promote understanding of the importance of language access to all federal and federally assisted programs and to support "a fair, reasoned and consistent" implementation of Executi…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Education and Training

National Association of the Deaf

The National Association of the Deaf is an advocacy group for deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals. Individual or organizational memberships are available. The association recognizes that access to la…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Education and Training

National Board of Certification for Medical Interpreters

Candidates who meet the prerequisites of age, experience, and education may apply for certification as medical interpreters. Certification will demand passage of written and oral exams. A Certified Me…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Reports and Briefs

Guide to initial assessment of interpreter qualifications

This guide is intended to outline a strategy for an initial evaluation of interpreter qualifications in the absence of certification by an accrediting body. In addition to basic language skills, areas…
Added/Updated: 03/16/2015
Reports and Briefs

Guide to interpreter positioning in health care settings

This guide examines the pros and cons of various physical positionings of the interpreter relative to the patient, physician, family members, or others who may be present and the factors (such as room…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Reports and Briefs

National Standards of Practice for Interpreters in Health Care

Thirty-two standards are offered divided among the following areas: (1) accuracy, (2) confidentiality, (3) impartiality, (4) respect, (5) cultural awareness, (6) role boundaries, (7) professionalism, …
Added/Updated: 03/16/2015
Education and Training

Language Access

This Web page serves as a gateway to numerous resources on the subject of language access. These resources are organized into the following broad areas: publications, research studies, federal adminis…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Scientific Papers

How to choose and develop written educational materials

The author offers guidelines to help nurses and other health care professionals select appropriately readable, authoritative, informative, and unbiased health education materials for patients and thei…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Education and Training

Plain Language Association International

This is a nonprofit organization promoting the use of plain language in business, science, journalism, law, technical writing, and public discourse generally. The site provides links to articles, writ…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Education and Training

Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf

The Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf represents "professionals who facilitate communication between people who are deaf or hard of hearing and people who hear." It offers its members continuing e…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Reports and Briefs

The high costs of language barriers in medical malpractice

The authors note that, in 2008, nearly 20 percent of people living in the United States spoke a language other than English at home. In the Western U.S., the figure rose to 32 percent, and, in Califor…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Reports and Briefs

Standard practice papers

This Web page offers links to standard practices and positions reflecting the consensus of the organization's members. The many topics covered include professional sign language interpreting, business…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Reports and Briefs

Kaiser Permanente's qualified bilingual staff model

This article discusses the Qualified Bilingual Staff model developed by Kaiser Permanente as a cost-effective way to meet the needs of its multilingual and multicultural patient population and reduce …
Added/Updated: 01/17/2014
Education and Training

Case study: The language of diversity

Kaiser Permanente's Qualified Bilingual Staff model makes the most of workforce diversity to provide qualified, cost-effective, and operationally efficient linguistic services. Trained bilingual staff…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Audio or Video

Communicating effectively through an interpreter

This 28-minute DVD was designed to help health care providers choose an appropriate interpreter, recognize unprofessional interpretation, and work effectively with a trained interpreter or guide an un…
Added/Updated: 03/16/2015
Education and Training

CAHPS item set for addressing health literacy

The principal goal of this Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems item set "is to measure, from the patients' perspectives, how well health information is communicated to them by heal…
Added/Updated: 11/04/2013
Education and Training

Federal agency LEP guidance & language access plans

Each federal agency that provides financial assistance must develop guidance for its recipients on their obligation to provide meaningful access to persons having limited proficiency in English. This …
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Education and Training

National action plan to improve health literacy

The plan is based on the principles that everyone has the right to health information and that health services should be delivered in ways that are understandable. Seven goals and strategies to achiev…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Education and Training

Asset-Based Community Development Institute

The ABCD Institute, located at Northwestern University, is part of a movement that considers local assets to be the "building blocks of sustainable community development." The institute is involved in…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Education and Training

Diversity committees that make a difference

This document addresses the importance of forming a diversity committee as a first step in launching any diversity initiative. The structure of the committee and the key issues on which it needs to fo…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Scientific Papers

Strategies for improving minority healthcare quality

The authors analyzed articles, found during an extensive literature search, on initiatives intended to improve minority health care and targeting health care providers or organizations. Most of the st…
Added/Updated: 11/25/2014
Toolkits

National Center for Deaf Health Research

The center is guided by a cultural model of deafness (i.e., that deaf people are a minority group who share a common language and culture), not a clinical model. Links are provided to relevant literat…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Reports and Briefs

Taking cultural competency from theory to action

The authors interviewed leaders in the field of cultural competency. They offer recommendations for the implementation of cultural competency and find that six principles are fundamental to a successf…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Education and Training

Common program requirements

These requirements for residency program accreditation include "Communicate effectively with patients, families, and the public, as appropriate, across a broad range of socioeconomic and cultural back…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Audio or Video

Quality care for diverse populations videos

A series of short videos (two and a half to nine minutes in length) comprises this Web-based training program intended to assist health care professionals in developing cultural proficiency in the tre…
Added/Updated: 05/05/2015
Education and Training

Skills based courses

The American Academy on Communication in Healthcare offers a number of institutional courses on such topics as enhancing effective clinician-patient communication and managing medical malpractice risk…
Added/Updated: 03/13/2015
Education and Training

The Ethical Force Program

The Ethical Force Program includes patients, practitioners, purchasers, and representatives of health plans and government and accrediting agencies. This group is responsible for creating, testing, an…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Toolkits

C-CAT: Patient centered communication

C-CAT stands for Communication Climate Assessment Toolkit, a set of staff, patient, and leadership surveys developed by the AMA's Ethical Force Program to assist organizations in meeting the needs of …
Added/Updated: 03/13/2015
Toolkits

Tool for assessing cultural competence training (TACCT)

TACCT is a self-assessment tool designed for the use of medical schools in examining their curricula for gaps and redundancies in cultural competence training. It can be used for either traditional or…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Education and Training

Course information: Bridging the gap

This 40-hour training program is designed to prepare bilingual individuals for work as medical interpreters in hospitals or clinics. Topics covered include basic interpreting skills, ethics, and medic…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Audio or Video

Worlds apart: A four-part series on cross-cultural healthcare

The series consists of four short films, totaling 47 minutes combined running time. Filmed in patients' homes and neighborhoods as well as in clinical settings, each part follows one patient and his o…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Toolkits

Institute Resource Center

Contains downloadable information, news, studies, and data designed to help hospitals diversify their workforces and serve their diverse patient populations.
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Education and Training

Training: Institute for Healthcare Communication

This site contains links to courses offered by the Institute for Healthcare Communication. Continuing education credit is available for some courses. A train-the-trainer approach in some courses will …
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Education and Training

Clinical cultural competency questionnaire

The Clinical Cultural Competency Questionnaire is available from this Web page, here adapted as pretraining and posttraining versions that vary from one another only slightly. It was developed "as a t…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Toolkits

The provider's guide to quality & culture

This website is devoted to fostering culturally competent health care services for ethnically diverse populations. Features include a short quality and culture quiz; audio clips of practitioners descr…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Education and Training

A national code of ethics for interpreters in health care

The council's Standards, Training and Certification Committee developed this code to guide the practice of health care interpreters and to serve as the basis for any subsequent standards of practice f…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Toolkits

Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative

The collaborative's members include employers, universities, health plans, and other stakeholders in America's health care system who endorse the patient-centered medical home model. Resources are ava…
Added/Updated: 04/21/2014
Reports and Briefs

Missing persons: Minorities in the health professions

The Sullivan Commission was established in 2003 under a grant from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation to Duke University and was composed of health, business, higher education, legal, and legislative expert…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Education and Training

Unified health communication 101

This is a free five-module online course that allows viewers to proceed at their own pace. Participants will learn to "implement patient-centered communication practices that demonstrate cultural comp…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Reports and Briefs

A physician's practical guide to culturally competent care

This e-learning program uses individual cases to illustrate areas of miscommunication and cultural misunderstanding. Participants will learn how to address language and cultural barriers, how to work …
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Education and Training

Culturally competent nursing care: A cornerstone of caring

Nurses spend more time in direct patient care than other health professionals. This training, designed to enhance nurses' abilities to provided culturally appropriate care, has been approved for nine …
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Education and Training

Communicating through health care interpreters

This online tutorial offers instruction for those working with interpreters in the context of patient care. Topics include the value of presession time with the interpreter, establishing rapport with …
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Toolkits

Health literacy and patient safety: Help patients understand

This self-study kit for health care professionals and patient advocates contains an instructional video on DVD and CD-ROM (VHS format available separately), a manual for clinicians, discussions of cas…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Scientific Papers

Health literacy: A review

The authors note that nearly half of English-speaking patients lack functional health literacy, defined as the ability to read, understand, and act on health information. The consequences of this stat…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Toolkits

Hearing Loss Association of America

Information is available here on a wide variety of subjects related to hearing loss, such as hearing-assistive technology, financial assistance for hearing aids, webinars, advocacy efforts, and course…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Education and Training

Institute for Patient- and Family-Centered Care

The Institute for Patient- and Family-Centered Care is an information resource center for facility designers, clinicians, educators, organizational leaders, patient and family advisers, and researcher…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Education and Training

International Society for Urban Health

The society is devoted to "the study of disease in urban areas and the effects of urbanization on health." Links are provided to conferences, resources, and the Journal of Urban Health.
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Toolkits

National interpreter advocacy forum

The National Interpreter Advocacy Forum is a coalition of organizations and individuals engaged in the promotion of equitable treatment for language-minority individuals and the establishment of natio…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Reports and Briefs

Diversity and inclusion 2020

This brief document outlines Johns Hopkins Medicine's plans to create an inclusive environment for all employees, patients, and the communities from which those patients are drawn. Specific goals are …
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Reports and Briefs

Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development

The Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development is a quarterly publication for members of the Association for Multicultural Counseling and Development. The journal contains research, theory, a…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Toolkits

Johns Hopkins Urban Health Institute

Johns Hopkins' Urban Health Institute is, according to its website, "the starting point for forging true University and community partnerships in health care, education and community planning, with al…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Scientific Papers

Journal of Religion and Health

This peer-reviewed journal publishes original research (statistical, clinical, or theoretical) from scholars and professionals of all faiths on the relationship of religion and spirituality to physica…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Toolkits

Lighthouse International

Lighthouse International offers services for those who are at risk for, or who are experiencing, vision loss. Links are available for early intervention services, low-vision exams, vision rehabilitati…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Education and Training

Making CLAS happen: Six areas for action

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health identified challenges faced by public health professionals serving minority populations and developed this guide to the implementation of CLAS Standards t…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Reports and Briefs

Disparities Dashboard

The Racial and Ethnic Disparities Dashboard is an internal Massachusetts General Hospital report on key quality indicators, stratified by race and ethnicity. This portion of the subcommittees (of the …
Added/Updated: 05/29/2013
Toolkits

Rural Health Concerns

Some health concerns may be unique to those living in rural areas. Others may be exacerbated by the difficulty of obtaining medical care. This website offers links to information on a wide variety of …
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Toolkits

National Coalition for LGBT Health

The coalition actively seeks the elimination of health disparities based on sexual orientation, gender, and gender identity and supports efforts to eliminate disparities based on race, ethnicity, educ…
Added/Updated: 03/13/2015
Toolkits

Awards: Recognizing innovations in multicultural health care

NCQA's Recognizing Innovation in Multicultural Health Care award program highlights the efforts of health plans to improve culturally and linguistically appropriate services and to address the needs o…
Added/Updated: 03/13/2015
Education and Training

National Council on Interpreting in Health Care

This website provides links to NCIHC publications and training programs. Links are available to other relevant sites, such as state interpreter associations, educational programs, and sites discussing…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Reports and Briefs

National Health Law Program

The National Health Law Program is a public interest law firm working to advance access to high-quality health care and to protect the legal rights of underserved and low-income individuals. The issue…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Toolkits

The National Health Plan Collaborative toolkit

This toolkit of resources, lessons, best practices, and case studies, drawn from the efforts of the National Health Plan Collaborative (11 health insurance plans in partnership with private and public…
Added/Updated: 01/17/2014
Education and Training

Ask Me 3

Ask Me 3 is a patient education program designed to promote communication between health care providers and patients. Patients are encouraged to ask three questions and to be certain they understand t…
Added/Updated: 11/04/2014
Education and Training

National stakeholder strategy for achieving health equity

This document offers a plan for eliminating health disparities through cooperative and strategic action. It is part of an effort to provide "visible and accountable federal leadership while also promo…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Toolkits

National Rural Health Association

The National Rural Health Association is a national nonprofit organization whose members include individuals and organizations who share a common interest in issues of rural health. The website's link…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Reports and Briefs

Rural Multiracial and Multicultural Health Conference

This annual conference is one of a few meetings in the nation with a focus on rural multiracial and multicultural health. The conference has been designed for people dedicated to bringing high-quality…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Toolkits

Quality improvement plan template

The template covers such areas as leadership and organization, goals and objectives, performance measurement, identification of quality improvement initiatives, and evaluation. An appendix of quality …
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Scientific Papers

Cultural safety in nursing: The New Zealand experience

In 1992, under prompting by Maori nurses, the Nursing Council of New Zealand made "cultural safety" a requirement for the training of persons seeking registration as nurses or midwives. "Safety," in t…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Reports and Briefs

Improving patient-provider communication: A call to action

The authors note that inadequate communication places patients at greater risk of medical error and poor outcome. The article is a "call to action" addressed to nursing administrators to ensure assess…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Education and Training

CLAS Standards implementation tips

This concise document, addressed to health care organizations, provides implementation strategies and suggested steps toward achievement of provider adherence to the original 14 CLAS Standards.
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Toolkits

Refugee Health Technical Assistance Center

This organization is dedicated to providing technical assistance on refugee health and support to health care providers in the United States. Resources include a refugee services toolkit, a suicide pr…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Toolkits

Speaking Together Toolkit

The toolkit offers advice for improving the quality and accessibility of language services in hospitals. Topics discussed include written and spoken language needs, screening patients to determine the…
Added/Updated: 03/19/2014
Education and Training

Cultural Diversity in Health & Illness

The author seeks to promote awareness of the complexities involved in caring for people of diverse cultural backgrounds. Examples of traditional health practices and beliefs are provided for selected …
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Education and Training

Creating a patient education tool

This article outlines the development of a low-literacy self-management book for stroke patients. In the process, significant knowledge was gained by team members to enrich their own professional deve…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Education and Training

Spiritual Diversity and Social Work Resource Center

This site provides resources targeted primarily to social workers and advocates for religious and spiritual understanding. Resources are offered in Japanese, Korean, and Spanish in addition to English…
Added/Updated: 08/29/2013
Toolkits

The George Washington Institute for Spirituality and Health

The George Washington Institute for Spirituality and Health is affiliated with George Washington University. The institute "is working toward a more compassionate system of healthcare by restoring the…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Education and Training

Transcultural Nursing Society

The stated goals of the society include the advancement of cultural competence for nurses worldwide, the support of scholarship, and the building of a body of substantive knowledge in the field of tra…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Toolkits

A toolkit for serving diverse communities

This toolkit, designed for the use of the Aging Services Network and its partners, is built around a four-step process: organizational, staff, and self-assessments; knowledge of the community and part…
Added/Updated: 03/13/2015
Toolkits

Health literacy universal precautions toolkit

This toolkit was designed to be used by staff at all levels of a primary care practice. It contains 20 tools, each two to five pages long, to improve spoken and written communication and improve patie…
Added/Updated: 03/13/2015
Toolkits

CAHPS cultural competence item set

The Cultural Competence Item Set is a set of supplemental items for the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems' Clinician and Group Survey. It was "designed to capture the patient's p…
Added/Updated: 11/11/2013
Fact Sheets

Intellectual disability fact sheet

This fact sheet, written in English and Spanish, gives a brief, clear, and easy-to-understand description of the signs and possible causes of intellectual disability and encourages parents to seek ear…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Toolkits

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender health

This CDC Web page provides links to information on and resources for some of the health issues and inequities affecting LGBT communities. Information is also available for health care providers, publi…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Toolkits

National Partnership for Action to End Health Disparities

The Office of Minority Health established the National Partnership for Action to End Health Disparities as a community-driven approach to the achievement of health equity. Partners may be individuals …
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Education and Training

LGBT resource center

The site is directed to the needs of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community of the University of California, San Francisco, a leading center of health sciences research, patient care, a…
Added/Updated: 03/27/2014
Toolkits

Multicultural health clearinghouse

This site provides information intended to highlight health topics pertinent to various underrepresented populations. The home page offers a large number of links, organized by population (e.g., vario…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Toolkits

Public health preparedness: Mobilizing state by state

The report details the progress of States in preparedness and response issues. This report is intended to serve as a first step in detailing collaboration efforts in preparedness between local, State,…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Toolkits

National Resource Center

The National Resource Center is a database of resources on the public health preparedness needs of diverse communities. The National Resource Center aims to serve as a clearinghouse for those stakehol…
Added/Updated: 09/15/2015
Reports and Briefs

Racial disparities in cancer therapy

This study, published by the American Cancer Society, analyzes whether racial disparities in cancer therapy received by Medicare beneficiaries had been reduced between the early 1990s and 2002 as a re…
Added/Updated: 10/25/2011
Reports and Briefs

Resources Related to Health Coverage and Hurricane Katrina

This is a narrated tutorial from the Kaiser Family Foundation that discusses the state of healthcare in New Orleans both before Hurricane Katrina and following it. Much of the information presented di…
Added/Updated: 03/13/2015
Reports and Briefs

The medical tongue: U.S. laws and policies on language access.

Despite many Federal- and State-level laws regarding language access services, language barriers in healthcare are still prevalent for many individuals with limited English proficiency. The existing l…
Added/Updated: 10/25/2011
Toolkits

Creating Equity Reports: A Guide for Hospitals. Boston, MA

The findings in this report indicate that although many hospitals collect information about their patients' demographics, race, and ethnicity, they often do not make use of the information. This resou…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Toolkits

DiversityRx: Improving Health Care in a Diverse World

DiversityRx informs, educates, and supports healthcare providers, policymakers, researchers, and advocates who work to improve quality of care for minority, immigrant, and indigenous communities.
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Reports and Briefs

2010 National Healthcare Disparities Report

The HHS AHRQ released 2011's NHDR, which summarizes healthcare quality and access among various racial, ethnic, and income groups and other priority populations, such as residents of rural areas and p…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Reports and Briefs

CDC Health Disparities and Inequities Report

This report from the HHS CDC is the agency's first in a series of assessments of the Nations' health disparities and inequities. The report states that "Persistent health disparities in our country ar…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Reports and Briefs

Black babies at twice risk of whites, study indicates

This article explores health disparities in pregnancy and births for Black women as compared to White women. Even when factors such as socioeconomic status are accounted for, Black women are more like…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Reports and Briefs

Culturally Appropriate Storytelling to Improve Blood Pressure

This study tested a culturally appropriate intervention to control blood pressure in African Americans using DVDs of real patients' stories of how they deal with the chronic disease. Patients with unc…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Education and Training

Medical Interpreters Are a Patient's Right

This article documents language access requirements and advancements that help the healthcare system facilitate communication between providers and those who are limited English proficient. It discuss…
Added/Updated: 05/15/2012
Reports and Briefs

State Works to Improve Indian Health

This article details Montana's comprehensive efforts to address health disparities suffered by the State's American Indian population. Montana is implementing culturally competent services and partner…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Scientific Papers

White Patients Most Likely to Get Kidney Transplants: Study

This study from the University of Washington at Seattle finds that minorities have a significantly lower chance of getting a kidney transplant than Whites do. The researchers note that language and cu…
Added/Updated: 01/07/2013
Reports and Briefs

With Poem, Broaching the Topic of Death

This article presents an Arizona hospital's efforts to provide culturally and linguistically appropriate geriatric and end-of-life services to its American Indian population.
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Education and Training

Pocket Guide to Culturally Sensitive Health Care

Hands-on ideas for building effective and therapeutic relationships with diverse populations from 25 different cultures in 11 areas of care.
Added/Updated: 09/08/2011
Toolkits

Therapist

NaturalTherapyForAll is a good resource to find a therapist, counsellor, psychotherapist, acupuncturist, hypnotherapist or therapy course information.
Added/Updated: 10/11/2011
Education and Training

Native American Spirituality

An information Guide for Health Care providers; hospital staff and administrators; chaplains; school administrators; funeral directors and others regarding ceremonies; rights and obligations.
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Reports and Briefs

Cancers

Detection
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Education and Training

Reexamining LGBT Healthcare

Out of the box LGBT cultural competence training; including 10-minute original video; slides and a manual
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Education and Training

CDC Diabetes website

CDC's Division of Diabetes Translation translates diabetes research into daily practice to understand the impact of the disease; influence health outcomes; and improve access to quality health care. R…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Audio or Video

Unnatural causes: Is inequality making us sick?

This seven-part series, originally aired on PBS, investigates such topics as how the distribution of power, wealth, and resources shapes opportunities for health; whether racism can affect birth outco…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Education and Training

Definition of intellectual disability

Intellectual disability is characterized by significant limitations in reasoning, learning, and problem solving and in adaptive behavior, such as language, literacy, and interpersonal and occupational…
Added/Updated: 03/13/2015
Reports and Briefs

Building quality & equitable health care systems

A report of the proceedings of a conference held June 7-9, 2010. Topics of discussion included language access; cultural competency; reduction of health disparities; the collection and use of race, et…
Added/Updated: 04/21/2014
Toolkits

DeafMD.org

This website provides health information in American Sign Language for the deaf and hard-of-hearing population. The site contains four sections: diseases and illnesses, understanding tests, news, and …
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Toolkits

DiversityRx

The website is a resource center for anyone with an interest in cross-cultural health issues. Links are provided to events, webinars, blogs, and a CLAS-Talk Listserv. Links are also available to infor…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Toolkits

EthnoMed

The EthnoMed website offers information on beliefs, medical issues, and topics relevant to the health care of immigrants from a wide variety of cultures. Clinical issues may be browsed by culture or b…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Toolkits

Patient-centered care: Improvement guide

This online guide offers more than 150 specific practices (in areas such as spirituality, integrative medicine, care for the caregiver, and environment of care) intended to meet the needs of patients,…
Added/Updated: 04/11/2016
Toolkits

Gay and Lesbian Medical Association

The site includes resources for patients (e.g., find a provider) and providers (e.g., continuing medical education courses) and information about advocacy efforts, conferences, the Healthcare Equality…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Education and Training

Healthcare 411

Healthcare 411 is an audio podcast series produced by the HHS Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) as part of its effort to improve the quality, safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of h…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Reports and Briefs

Toothache in US Children

Data from the National Survey of Children's Health offers evidence of racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities in pediatric oral health. Even when socioeconomic status was controlled for, there w…
Added/Updated: 06/18/2012
Reports and Briefs

Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Healthcare in California

The State of California conducted a study on racial and ethnic health disparities in 2010. Although the study found improvement in many areas, it also found that significant inequities persist. The au…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Education and Training

Culturally Competent Care: Some Examples of What Works

Culturally Competent Care: Some Examples of What Works! was published by the Commission on the Public's Health System of New York City. The initiative surveyed 659 parents in 12 languages about their …
Added/Updated: 09/06/2011
Reports and Briefs

Race, culture may play role in Alzheimer's disease

This article discusses research presented at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference. It examines the effect of racial and cultural differences on Alzheimer's patients' outcomes and the a…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Toolkits

Irvine's Hoag Hospital works to bridge cultural barriers

This article details a California hospital's efforts to incorporate culturally competent practices into its services and system. Hoag Hospital in Irvine, CA, took many steps to adapt to its patients' …
Added/Updated: 10/25/2011
Reports and Briefs

At Hospitals, New Methods With a Focus on Diversity

This New York Times article discusses the ways that hospitals nationwide are adopting practices intended to improve care for an increasingly diverse patient population beyond language access services.…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Reports and Briefs

Cultural and socioeconomic factors affecting cancer screening

The Journal of the American Medical Association has published a study from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill about the cultural factors present in the racial disparities of lung cancer. The…
Added/Updated: 03/13/2015
Education and Training

Ending health disparities takes interdisciplinary approach

In this message from the American Medical Association (AMA) president to all physicians, Dr. Rohack notes that an interdisciplinary approach to patient-centered care may help reduce health disparities…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Toolkits

Health Disparities Calculator

Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results at the National Cancer Institute has developed a Health Disparities Calculator (HD*Calc), which is a statistical software designed to generate multiple summar…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Reports and Briefs

A Model for Interprofessional Health Disparities Education:

The Journal of General Internal Medicine dedicated its May 2010 supplement to health disparities education. This supplement focuses on approaches to teaching health disparities and health disparities …
Added/Updated: 03/13/2015
Toolkits

National Healthcare Disparities Report

The AHRQ produced the 2009 NHDR. The NHDR tracks the healthcare system through quality measures and summarizes healthcare quality and access among various racial, ethnic, and income groups and other p…
Added/Updated: 03/13/2015
Reports and Briefs

Organ Transplant Program 'mistrust' studied

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have shown that patients who think healthcare providers discriminate against them take more time to get approved for kidney transplant su…
Added/Updated: 01/07/2013
Toolkits

American Journal of Public Health

The first issue of any major public health journal devoted to Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander populations, the May issue of the American Journal of Public Health (AJPH) explores a…
Added/Updated: 12/21/2011
Reports and Briefs

Cultural competence in oncology: Where do we stand?

This article in Annals of Oncology discusses the importance and relevance of culturally competent services in oncology. The author emphasizes that cultural differences are a major determinant of unequ…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Scientific Papers

The New Era of Professional Healthcare Interpreters

This article discusses the need for language access service criteria, such as having interpreters professionally trained and credentialed to better guarantee effective communication between healthcare…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Fact Sheets

Eliminating Health Disparities: What Works?

Eliminating Health Disparities: What Works? is a series of articles in the Journal of the American Academy of Physician Assistants. Each month, the journal examines a pertinent topic within the field …
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Toolkits

Informacion en espanol

The AHRQ's website called Informacion en Espanol provides a variety of publications and other resources on healthcare issues, including audio and video, in Spanish. Informacion en Espanol includes a m…
Added/Updated: 04/11/2016
Reports and Briefs

Study: Many Say Disparities Genetic

A study published in the Social Science Quarterly indicates that a majority of Americans support strategies to reduce healthcare disparities that are caused by social and economic status but believe t…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Toolkits

CSMS issues results of health disparities survey

This article discusses the results of a survey conducted by the Connecticut State Medical Society (CSMS) about physicians' views on ways to reduce disparities in healthcare, including cultural compete…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Education and Training

When the Patient Gets Lost in Translation

This article in the New York Times is a firsthand account from a surgeon interacting with limited-English-proficient patients combined with a summary of the literature on the effects of a language bar…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Reports and Briefs

Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved

The May 2009 issue of the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved offers a variety of articles that address issues of health disparities and access to care. It highlights medical education…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Reports and Briefs

2008 National Healthcare Quality & Disparities Reports

The AHRQ released 2008's NHQR and NHDR, which present findings on quality of and access to healthcare by measuring trends in effectiveness of care, patient safety, patient centeredness, and more.
Added/Updated: 03/13/2015
Reports and Briefs

Racial and Ethnic Disparities in U.S. Health Care: A Chartbook

This chartbook provides a framework through which policymakers, teachers, researchers, and practitioners may understand health disparities and formulate solutions. The chartbook presents data regardin…
Added/Updated: 10/25/2011
Reports and Briefs

Journal of Public Health Management & Practice

This supplemental issue of the Journal of Public Health Management & Practice is dedicated to health disparities. It contains articles on a wide variety of topics relating to health disparities and in…
Added/Updated: 10/28/2011
Reports and Briefs

Health Disparities: Barriers to a Culture of Preparedness

This article discusses the ways that inequalities in health and healthcare present a barrier to the United States' disaster preparedness and response activities. The article sets out to show that indi…
Added/Updated: 10/25/2011
Education and Training

Culturally-sensitive care for the transgender patient

This article serves as a resource for health care professionals in providing culturally competent care to transgender patients, with a focus on perioperative nursing. This piece compiles useful inform…
Added/Updated: 09/15/2015
Fact Sheets

Hispanic Health: A La Buena Salud! - To Good Health!

This May 2015 iteration of the CDC�s Vital Signs series explores the differences in health risks affecting Hispanics and non-Hispanic whites. Also available as a PDF infographic, this resource provide…
Added/Updated: 09/15/2015
Reports and Briefs

Diversity in health care: Examples from the field

This resource from the Health Research and Educational Trust presents case study examples of six U.S. hospitals that are actively incorporating initiatives that promote diversity within governance; le…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Reports and Briefs

Advancing LGBT Health & Well-Being

This report, published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services� (HHS) LGBT Issues Coordinating Committee, describes efforts within HHS to address inequities experienced by LGBT individuals…
Added/Updated: 09/15/2015
Education and Training

A toolkit for eliminating health care disparities

Equity of Care established this toolkit to further push the health equity agenda forward in health and health care organizations, with the philosophy that equitable, quality health care for all indivi…
Added/Updated: 09/15/2015
Education and Training

Best practices for building leadership diversity programs

Equity of Care illustrates best practices and suggestions for improving diversity within governance; leadership; and workforce across the career stages of entry level; mid-career level; C-suite level;…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Education and Training

A framework for stratifying race; ethnicity and language data

The Health Research & Educational Trust published this tool specifically for hospitals and systems of care as a guide for collecting and using data on race; ethnicity; and language ;also known as REAL…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Education and Training

Evolution of Health Insurance Marketplaces.

This July 2015 report summarizes the experiences of several states across the state-based; federally facilitated; and partnership marketplace categories in accessing; enrolling; and retaining cultural…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Reports and Briefs

2014 National healthcare quality and disparities report

This annual deliverable to Congress from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality reports on the overall quality of health care quality in the U.S.; as well as provides a specific focus upon hea…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Reports and Briefs

Care and payment models to achieve the triple aim.

This report published by the American Hospital Association presents seven steps to restructuring a health care system so that the needs of the individual patient/client are at the center. The impetus …
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Education and Training

Hispanic Health: A La Buena Salud! - To Good Health!

This May 2015 iteration of the CDC's Vital Signs series explores the differences in health risks affecting Hispanics and non-Hispanic whites. Also available as a PDF infographic; this resource provide…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Reports and Briefs

BMC Health Services Research

In this article; the authors describe their study to determine the correlation; if any; between adults' emergency department visits and hospital admissions and their English language proficiency. Find…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Toolkits

Diversity in health care: Examples from the field.

This resource from the Health Research and Educational Trust presents case study examples of six U.S. hospitals that are actively incorporating initiatives that promote diversity within governance; le…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Education and Training

Culturally-sensitive care for the transgender patient.

This article serves as a resource for health care professionals in providing culturally competent care to transgender patients; with a focus on perioperative nursing. This piece compiles useful inform…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Reports and Briefs

National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report

This annual deliverable to Congress from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality reports on the overall quality of health care quality in the U.S.; as well as provides a specific focus upon hea…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Education and Training

CASAS

CASAS offers assessments of basic reading, mathematics, listening, speaking, and writing skills in contexts that the learners might be expected to encounter in everyday situations. An adult low-level …
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Reports and Briefs

Principles of community engagement

This primer contains a review of concepts, models, and frameworks from the literature on community engagement; nine principles of community engagement that are grounded in that literature; case exampl…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Fact Sheets

Assuring healthcare quality: A healthcare equity blueprint

This work offers strategies hospitals might follow in designing and implementing interventions to address racial and ethnic disparities. Topics include community partnerships; governance and leadershi…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Toolkits

Working on common cross-cultural communication challenges

The authors outline six fundamental patterns of cultural difference: communication styles, attitudes toward conflict, approaches to completing tasks, decision-making styles, attitudes toward disclosur…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Toolkits

Health research and educational trust disparities toolkit

This is a Web-based toolkit providing information and resources that will allow health care organizations to collect patient race, ethnicity, and primary language data in a systematic way. Included ar…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Fact Sheets

Culture, language, and patient safety: Making the link

The authors suggest that failure to recognize the link between culture and language, on the one hand, and patient safety, on the other, exposes hospital patients from minority backgrounds to preventab…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Fact Sheets

Lahey Clinic Foundation

The website of this teaching hospital affiliated with Tufts University is notable for the extensive and multileveled list of informational and service links under the heading of patient and visitor in…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Toolkits

Mediation and multicultural reality

The author examines a connection between mediation and multiculturalism in three ways: "(1) by summarizing implications of multiple cultures for the study and design of conflict resolution processes; …
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Toolkits

Cultural competence health practitioner assessment (CCHPA)

The CCHPA is an online self-assessment tool. It has six subscales: values and belief systems, cultural aspects of epidemiology, clinical decision-making, life cycle events, cross-cultural communicatio…
Added/Updated: 04/11/2016
Toolkits

Recognizing innovations in multicultural health care

This award program recognizes health plans "for their exemplary efforts and demonstrated effectiveness in promoting cultural competence and addressing the health care needs" of members who belong to c…
Added/Updated: 03/16/2015
Fact Sheets

Cultural and linguistic competency policy

The National CLAS Standards were used as guidelines for the seven policies and associated procedures detailed in this document from the San Francisco Department of Public Health. The policies concern …
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Reports and Briefs

Defining and measuring community benefit

In the face of threats to their tax-exempt status, not-for-profit hospitals must find consistent ways of identifying and tracking their benefits to the community. The author discusses legal requiremen…
Added/Updated: 04/09/2015
Reports and Briefs

Assets-oriented community assessment

The authors argue that, rather than a needs-based or problem-focused orientation to assessment, Healthy Communities initiatives are better served by an assets-oriented assessment approach.
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Toolkits

American Factfinder

Search for census information by topic (such as age, income, or year), race or ethnic group, occupation, or geographic area. Only deidentified information (that is, information that would not enable t…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Toolkits

CAHPS: Surveys and tools to advance patient-centered care

This website for the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems program offers standardized patient questionnaires on health plans, clinicians and groups, surgical care, dental plans, hos…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Fact Sheets

National Healthcare Quality & Disparities Reports: NHQRDRNet

NHQRDRNet is an online query system that allows access to data from the National Healthcare Quality Report and the National Healthcare Disparities Report. Information is available on the effectiveness…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Reports and Briefs

Improving data for the LGBT community

The Department of Health and Human Services will begin integrating sexual orientation and gender identity data into its national surveys. The HHS Data Council and the National Center for Health Statis…
Added/Updated: 03/16/2015
Education and Training

University of Colorado Conflict Information Consortium

This website, promoting constructive approaches to conflict, offers links to information on and training in conflict resolution, including resources for difficult and intractable conflicts. The stated…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Education and Training

Community-based participatory research

This website serves as a clearinghouse for information on "participatory models of research, in which communities are actively engaged in the research process through partnerships with academic instit…
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Education and Training

The Dangers of Drinking and Driving

A non-promotional guide that discusses the dangers that can happen if you drink and get behind the wheel of a vehicle.
Added/Updated: 06/01/2016
Toolkits

LGBT-TRISTAR

LGBT-TRISTAR is a government-funded technical assistance (TA) and training services division targeting providers of alcohol and other drug (AOD) prevention, treatment and recovery support services. W…
Added/Updated: 05/07/2013
Education and Training

LGBT Resources by Gil Gerald & Associates, Inc.

Every year, research is advancing knowledge about best practices in serving LGBT/SGL individuals and families. Additionally and fortunately there are a growing number of organizations, programs and se…
Added/Updated: 05/07/2013
Education and Training

Online Courses

OnlineCourses.com aggregates the best free and open courseware for students and professionals, all in a conveniently searchable online courseware platform. Search, track, and share progress on over 50…
Added/Updated: 09/15/2015
Reports and Briefs

Supporting and Transitioning the Health Care Safety Net

The Texas Health Institute recently released its second report, “Supporting and Transitioning the Health Care Safety Net,” in its five-part series known as The ACA & Racial and Ethnic Health Equity Se…
Added/Updated: 09/15/2015
Education and Training

The Perinatal Revolution

New research supports the critical role Community-Based Doula Programs can play in improving maternal and child health in underserved birthing populations. This study finds that community-based doula…
Added/Updated: 09/15/2015
Reports and Briefs

2014 National healthcare quality and disparities report

This annual deliverable to Congress from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality reports on the overall quality of health care quality in the U.S., as well as provides a specific focus upon hea…
Added/Updated: 09/15/2015
Audio or Video

Faces of Disparity

The Faces of Disparity Video is a 15-minute documentary that integrates personal stories of health care consumers with the perspectives of leading experts in health care and public health.
Added/Updated: 10/10/2016

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