As the demand for healthcare professionals continues to rise, it is essential that health care providers have the skills and experience necessary to care for individuals from different cultures and diverse backgrounds. This is called cultural competency, and it has been shown to improve health care experiences and outcomes. L.A. Care Health Plan, the largest health plan in Los Angeles County serving 2.7 million Angelenos, has awarded $175,000 to the Chinatown Service Center (CSC). The funding will support implementation of a health simulation center that will use virtual reality technology to improve staff cultural competency.
The CSC is an organization that assists more than 30,000 unique clients each year, providing a wide variety of services at six different locations in Chinatown and the San Gabriel Valley. Their services include medical and dental care, financial planning, and workforce development.
The new health simulation center at the CSC will create customized cultural learning objectives for their staff with immersive scenarios to engage participants in cross-cultural situations. Eventually, the CSC intends to open the center to additional clinics’ staff. Health simulation centers provide a safe environment for healthcare professionals to learn about real-world medical and social challenges. Studies show simulation centers improve the ability of providers to identify issues faced by low-income populations, enhance communication skills encompassing culture-specific gestures and non-verbal cues, and stimulate an increase in empathy.
The grant aligns with L.A. Care’s commitment to advance health equity, which is the fair and just opportunity for everyone to be as healthy as possible.