Cultural competency in healthcare: A clinical review and video vignettes from the National Medical Association

Definition: Cultural competence in healthcare refers to the capacity to provide effective medical care to persons of varied backgrounds through use of appropriate knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors: 

Culture refers to integrated patterns of human behavior that include the language, thoughts, communications, actions, customs, beliefs, values, and institutions of racial, ethnic, religious, or social groups; and Competence implies having the capacity to function effectively as an individual and an organization within the context of the cultural beliefs, behaviors, and needs presented by consumers and their communities. (author introduction)