Undergraduate Certificate in Cross Cultural Communication in Health Care

The online Cross Cultural Communication in Health Care Certificate in an undergraduate, interdisciplinary program designed to meet the needs of both bilingual and monolingual students. The program requires 15 credit hours. Bilingual students will receive preparation for certification as medical interpreters. The program will prepare non-bilingual students to develop and administer language access programs in health care facilities.

Upon completion of the program students will be able to:

• Understand appropriate use of bilingual skills in various health care settings (bilingual track)
• Discuss the main legal and administrative aspects of culturally and linguistically appropriate care
• Understand diversity from a health care, allied health or public health professional perspective
• Identify the need for language access resources at the local, regional, state and national level as defined by the National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Care (CLAS) and the guidelines of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO)
• Collaborate with health care and allied health professionals to promote equal access to health care and public health programs for patients who are limited English proficient (LEP)
• Discuss the administrative and development process of a language access program in health care settings

Program Structure (all courses are 3 credit hours unless otherwise noted):

Core Requirements (12 credit hours)

• AH 290: Medical Terminology (2 hrs)
• CD 200: Cross Cultural Communication in Health Care Encounters (1 hr)
• PH 447 or PHIL 322 Medical Ethics
• CD 210: Communication Disorders in Linguistically Diverse Populations
• COMM 440 Health Communication

Required Electives (3 credit hours selected from the following)

• CD 220: Medical Interpreting Skills (bilingual track)
• CD 230: Developing and Managing a Language Access Service (monolingual track)

Through special courses created for the certificate program, students will be able to

• Explain how communication is influenced by culture
• Understand how cultural differences can pose a barrier to effective communication
• Understand cross-cultural communication from a health care provider perspective
• Understand how ineffective cross-cultural communication can affect access and outcomes, leading to disparities in health care
• Apply different models for resolving cultural barriers to health care communication
• Understand the main elements involved in human communication as they apply to the interpreting task
• Understand and apply the roles of the medical interpreter
• Understand the importance of health literacy, as it relates to cross-cultural communication in health care
• Develop techniques for expanding short-term memory capacity and improving expressive abilities in both languages
• Understand the technical and ethical dimensions of language access
• Discuss current legislation and elements of compliance in language access
• Understand and apply the basic structure of a language access plan
• Understand the financial dimension of language access

For more information contact Danita Reiger at (270) 745-5173 or email danita.reiger@wku.edu.

*A student is permitted to transfer a maximum of six semester hours from another institution toward a certificate program at WKU