Human Resource Management

Paper details:

Engaging with the Community and Developing Cultural Competence Joey is a young graduate who is completing his degree in Health Administration with an emphasis in Health Information Technology (HIT). He is a very smart and capable guy, who was awarded a partial scholarship to attend the program at this expensive private college. Joey has fit in fairly well with the other “well-heeled” students, earned excellent grades, and has been active in the local chapter of the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE). Despite growing up in a middle class family in the suburbs, he has worked his way through school, starting in a clerical position in the HIT Department at a suburban hospital and quickly securing several promotions to positions of increasing responsibility. His experience and education have laid a very solid foundation for what should be a terrific career in the field of health care management. He seems to be one of those shining stars. One requirement for the master’s degree is that each student must participate in a service learning project with a local health care organization. The projects are typically done by a team of students providing some type of large-scale assessment for the agency. A faculty member has heard that a small non-profit women’s health care clinic in the nearby major metropolitan area needs help with the development of a strategic plan. This sounds like a perfect opportunity for a group of students, as each can focus on developing an aspects of the plan. He passes the contact information along to his students, but leaves it to the students to learn more about this inner-city clinic. Located in a lower-income neighborhood, the clinic serves a clientele that is ethnically diverse, with many immigrant families. The clinic has never had a formal strategic plan, so this process is very new and somewhat unfamiliar to the clinic staff. Being a natural leader, Joey is elected to represent the team. He decides that he’ll get the project rolling and schedules a meeting for this team with the clinic administrator. He tried to pull up the clinic’s website, but can’t seem to find it. Maybe he has the wrong name or something . . .he’s not sure. Despite not finding any background information online, Joey and his team show up for the meeting. The clinic is in a very depressed part of the city. The sign on the building reads Clinica de las Mujeres. One student mentions she thinks that mujeres means women, so they’re in the right place. As they enter, the team notices that the furnishings are more than well-used, the computers are really old desktops, there are no marketing materials for patients, and the waiting room is packed with women and children. They were expecting something quite different, something more modern, but they tell the receptionist that they have an appointment with the administrator, Mrs. Garcia. After a few minutes wait, the administrator comes out to greet the team, saying “Buenas dias. Como estas? Mi nombre es Senora Juanita Garcia. Muchas gracias para seleccion la clinica para tu Proyecto. Como se llama usted? Joey and the team are stunned and left speechless. None of them speaks Spanish and they don’t know that she just said. “Good day. How are you? My name is Mrs. Junita Garcia. Many thanks for selecting the clinic for your project. What are your names?” The students don’t know how to respond or what to do next. They realize they are unprepared and haven’t done their homework. Can you help them? What went wrong in the situation? What preconceived notions did the students allow to impair their thinking and preparation for their initial meeting with the clinic administrator? What needs to happen next? What should the students do to make amends with the administrator? How can the students increase their cultural competence? What can the students bring to the table to truly help this care provider? How can Senora Garcia use this as a teachable moment for these students? (Hint: Perhaps she’s bilinguagnal and does speak English)