Cultural competence: serving Latino patients.

Abstract

Culturally competent strategies are necessary as populations in many countries become increasingly diverse. In the United States, Latinos are the fastest-growing minority group. In this study, the authors interviewed Latino patients and families, collected demographics from 570 patients in pediatric orthopedic practices in California, and conducted population census and literature reviews. Based on these sources of information, the authors identified barriers to health care for Latino pediatric orthopedic patients and propose culturally competent strategies to overcome these barriers. This approach can be applied to other populations so that culturally competent care is available to patients from all ethnic, racial, and cultural backgrounds.