Cultural competence tools

Here are some resources you can tap to find out more about cultural competence and on individual cultural health issues:

• www.omhrc.gov/clas — This is the site of the Office on Minority Health’s recommended Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Health Care Services.

• www.hhs.gov/ocr/lep — At this site, you’ll find the guidance published in August for health care providers on federal civil rights requirements for serving people with limited English skills. In addition to the guidance itself, the site has a link to common questions and answers.

• www.diversityRx.org — Resources for Cross Cultural Health Care operates this site, providing contacts in a variety of areas of culturally competent care. Among its features is a listing of interpreter associations, both national and regional.

• www.tcns.org — This site is from the Transcultural Nursing Society, an organization devoted to increasing cultural competence in nursing.

• Lipson JG, Dibble SL, Minarik PA. Culture and Nursing Care: A Pocket Guide. San Francisco: UCSF Nursing Press; 1996.

• Purnell LD, Paulanka BJ. Transcultural Health Care: A Culturally Competent Approach. Philadelphia: Davis; 1998.