Inter-professional Awareness
Using my information literacy skills to find the cultural competency standards for my profession and major was not easy. A sonographer is a member of a healthcare team, so the standards that are put in place by the Society for Diagnostic Medical Sonography (SDMS) are somewhat specific to the profession. These standards can be found at the SDMS website. The standards are not as specific to cultural competency as the Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Standards (CLAS), found at The US Department of Health and Human Services website . However, there are phrases and individual standards that are similar to CLAS. I used a Venn diagram to compare the two sets of standards because I needed a way to keep the information I obtained organized. The diagram is pictured below:
The SDMS clinical standards begin by defining the sonographer's profession and scope of practice. While defining the profession, the standards state, "Diagnostic medical sonographers are committed to enhanced patient care and continuous quality improvement that increases knowledge and technical competence. Diagnostic medical sonographers use independent, professional, ethical judgement, and critical thinking to safely perform diagnostic sonographic procedures." The standards also say that the sonographer should always "act in the best interest of the patient."(SDMS) I feel that these sentences correlate well with CLAS. The principle standard of CLAS is to, "Provide effective, equitable, understandable and respectful quality care and services that are responsive to diverse cultural health beliefs and practices, preferred languages, health literacy and other communication needs." (CLAS) I believe that the principle CLAS standard and acting in the best interest of the patient are one and the same.
Another similarity I found is to offer no cost language assistance to the patient. Both CLAS and SDMS standards indicate that we should communicate in a way the patient can understand. Although SDMS standards do not provide details regarding language assistance, they do state the patient should be able to understand us. The SDMS standards include that sonographers should:
Patients who need language assistance need a way to communicate so they can understand us and we can understand them. To provide proper communication, no cost language assistance should be supplied by our organization. We also should be certain that the patient knows that language assistance is available to him. If it is needed, a competent translator should be used.
The main difference I found between the CLAS and SDMS standards is that the SDMS standards have limitations. To review the limitations, you can look at the limitation and scope section of the standards using the link above. The limitations of the SDMS standards say that laws, accreditation standards, and lawful facility policies and procedures take the place of these standards. However, CLAS seems to be the gold standard. While searching for cultural competence standards for my profession, almost every search ended with a link to CLAS. I never did find very specific cultural competency standards for my major. What I found is a set of standards that have many similarities to CLAS. However, SDMS provides limitations that point to other sets of standards. All of the information I found regarding cultural competency points to CLAS. One example is a slide show I found for my organization's cultural competency training seen at The Health Plan. The presentation highlights many points in CLAS, such as diversity among staff. One slide says, "Diversity among our physician, staff, students and volunteers promotes an environment of mutual support and respect." This directly correlates to the CLAS governance, leadership and workforce section. The SDMS does not mention diversity specifically, but does say lawful facility policy replaces their standards. Therefore, this facility policy should be followed.
I learned a lot examining the similarities and differences of CLAS and SDMS standards. The main lesson is that the Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Standards are the gold standard for cultural competency among health care organizations.
References:
1. National culturally and linguistically appropriate services standards. Think Cultural Health Web site. National Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services Standards. Updated 2017. Accessed 4/25, 2017.
Another similarity I found is to offer no cost language assistance to the patient. Both CLAS and SDMS standards indicate that we should communicate in a way the patient can understand. Although SDMS standards do not provide details regarding language assistance, they do state the patient should be able to understand us. The SDMS standards include that sonographers should:
- Assess patient, verify identity and uphold privacy.
- Evaluate contraindications, insufficient preparation or patient unwillingness to be evaluated
- Communicate in a way appropriate so the patient can understand
- Explain procedure and answer questions
- Communicate findings, questions, concerns to physician
Patients who need language assistance need a way to communicate so they can understand us and we can understand them. To provide proper communication, no cost language assistance should be supplied by our organization. We also should be certain that the patient knows that language assistance is available to him. If it is needed, a competent translator should be used.
The main difference I found between the CLAS and SDMS standards is that the SDMS standards have limitations. To review the limitations, you can look at the limitation and scope section of the standards using the link above. The limitations of the SDMS standards say that laws, accreditation standards, and lawful facility policies and procedures take the place of these standards. However, CLAS seems to be the gold standard. While searching for cultural competence standards for my profession, almost every search ended with a link to CLAS. I never did find very specific cultural competency standards for my major. What I found is a set of standards that have many similarities to CLAS. However, SDMS provides limitations that point to other sets of standards. All of the information I found regarding cultural competency points to CLAS. One example is a slide show I found for my organization's cultural competency training seen at The Health Plan. The presentation highlights many points in CLAS, such as diversity among staff. One slide says, "Diversity among our physician, staff, students and volunteers promotes an environment of mutual support and respect." This directly correlates to the CLAS governance, leadership and workforce section. The SDMS does not mention diversity specifically, but does say lawful facility policy replaces their standards. Therefore, this facility policy should be followed.
I learned a lot examining the similarities and differences of CLAS and SDMS standards. The main lesson is that the Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Standards are the gold standard for cultural competency among health care organizations.
References:
1. National culturally and linguistically appropriate services standards. Think Cultural Health Web site. National Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services Standards. Updated 2017. Accessed 4/25, 2017.
2. Scope of practice and clinical standards for the diagnostic medical sonographer. SDMS Web site. http://www.sdms.org/docs/default-source/Resources/scope-of-practice-and-clinical-standards.pdf?sfvrsn=14. Updated 2015. Accessed 4/25, 2017.
3. Cultural competency: Implicit bias. www.thehealthplan.com Web site. https://www.thehealthplan.com/uploadedFiles/GHPFamily/Documents/Providers/culturalcompetencytraining.pdf. Updated 2009. Accessed 4/26, 2017.
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