A number of experts from the US participated in Qatar’s first “cultural competence in healthcare” symposium hosted by Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar (WCMC-Q)’s Department of Global and Public Health.

At the symposium titled “Culturally Competent Patient-Centred Healthcare: A Special Focus on Qatar”, delegates discussed topics related to the practice of medicine in international settings, the challenges posed by language barriers and cultural sensitivities, and strategies to mitigate these issues to provide the best possible healthcare to patients from a diverse range of backgrounds.

The symposium was attended by WCMC-Q researchers, faculty and students as well as nurses and physicians from the Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC). The aim of the symposium was to show how cultural competence in healthcare can enhance patient-provider communication, eliminate disparities in access to healthcare and ultimately improve healthcare outcomes.

The symposium opened with a keynote address by Dr Jamal Rashid al-Khanji, director of Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety, and acting CEO of the Supreme Council of Health’s Qatar Council for Healthcare Practitioners.

Dr Ravinder Mamtani, associate dean for Global and Public Health at WCMC-Q, addressed the symposium, explaining that approximately 190 languages are spoken in Qatar. The Centre for Cultural Competence in Healthcare was established at WCMC-Q in 2008 to provide training in cultural competence to students and healthcare practitioners, said Dr Mamtani.

Dr Robert C Like, professor and director of the Centre for Healthy Families and Cultural Diversity at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Jersey (US), gave a talk on cultural competence and patient-centred care.

“Differences in language, cultural background and ethnicity can all be barriers to care, but with training, healthcare providers can transcend those barriers and help patients access the care they need. As cultural competency training is being introduced with a countrywide approach in Qatar, there is an opportunity for it to be truly transformative and to have a really positive effect on healthcare outcomes,” Dr Like said.

Dr Jeffrey Ring, director of Behavioural Sciences and Cultural Medicine at the White Memorial Medical Centre (US), spoke about education and research in the field of cultural competence.