The goal of the Language Competency in Health Care project, Improving Communication between Health Care Professionals and their Spanish-Speaking Patients, is to identify a practical and sustainable method to improve language skills (medical Spanish) for the health care professionals employed by San Bernardino county public health department.
Identify how to improve language competency of health professionals.
Engage the advisory board during quarterly meetings to assist project staff to broaden knowledge of experts, resources, and teaching methods for health professionals to learn medical Spanish to improve communication with Hispanic clients.
Explore administrative support to broaden project goals to include improved language skills for all health profession staff.
Conduct focus groups with nursing supervisors to find best vehicle, time frame, and user friendly way to improve language skill in Spanish.
Research existing resources, experts, and complete feasibility for goal to SB Public Health Administration.
Distribute interest survey to all SB health professionals to determine how many employees would enroll in a Medical Spanish course.
| HETC/BHPr Goals | San Bernardino/Imperial County HETC Objectives |
|---|---|
| "Address the persistent and severe unmet health care needs in San Bernardino and Imperial border counties." | CGN will prepare an appropriate number of ancillary support staff to provide culturally competent care in San Bernardino County. CGN will convene an advisory board to address the healthcare needs of minorities within San Bernardino and Imperial Counties. |
| "Improve access to quality health care through appropriate preparation, composition and distribution of the health profession workforce." | CGN will train RNs in San Bernardino County to provide culturally competent primary care. CGN will prepare an appropriate number of health professionals necessary to support primary care, targeting San Bernardino and Imperial Counties. CGN will increase the number of FNP and MSN/FNP graduates and cultural competency program completers practicing in underserved areas. |
| "Improve access to a diverse and culturally competent and sensitive health professions workforce." | CGN will increase the number of minority/ disadvantaged FNP or MSN/FNP nursing graduates and Cultural Competency program completers. The border counties of San Bernardino and Imperial will be targeted. CGN will increase the number of minority/disadvantaged enrollees in the MSN/FNP graduate nursing program (San Bernardino and Imperial Counties) and RN Cultural Competency program (San Bernardino County). |
In addition, CGN's San Bernardino/Imperial HETC project meets the criterion for Special Consideration by implementing BHPr's Kids Into Health Careers program in two large school districts, Colton Joint Unified School District (San Bernardino County) and Pomona Unified School District (east Lost Angeles County).