Welcome to Think Cultural Health

With growing concerns about racial and ethnic disparities in health and the need for health care systems to accommodate increasingly diverse patient populations, cultural competence has become more and more a matter of national concern and attention.

Providers can take the first step to improve the quality of health care services given to diverse populations. By learning to be more aware of their own cultural beliefs and more responsive to those of their patients, providers can think in ways they might not have before. That can lead to self-awareness, and over time, changed beliefs and attitudes that will translate into better health care.

This site, sponsored by the Office of Minority Health (OMH), offers the latest resources and tools to promote cultural competency in health care. You may access free online courses accredited for continuing education credit as well as supplementary tools to help you and your organization promote respectful, understandable, and effective care to your increasingly diverse patients.

A Physician's Practical Guide to Culturally Competent Care, is a free online educational program accredited for physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and pharmacists.

Culturally Competent Nursing Care: A Cornerstone of Caring, is a free online educational program designed specifically for nurses and is accredited by the American Nurses Credentialing Center and the National Association of Social Workers.

Health Care Language Services Implementation Guide, is a Web-based interactive tool that can assist health care organizations in planning, implementing, and evaluating language access services to better serve their limited English proficiency patient population and decrease disparities in access to health care.