Cultural Competency Training to Meet State Requirements for New Jersey Physicians
Boston, MA (Manhattan Cross Cultural Group, Inc) – February 18, 2009;
Manhattan Cross Cultural Group, founded by Drs. Joseph Betancourt, Alex Green and J. Emilio Carrillo - three physician thought-leaders in the field of cross-cultural care - - has created an on-line CME-accredited cultural competency training course called Quality Interactions® that meets the requirements set forth by NJ Bill SB144. This bill requires all physicians in the state of New Jersey to complete 6 hours of cultural competency training as a condition for licensure to practice medicine.
Quality Interactions® is built on a nationally recognized, cross-cultural curriculum published by Drs. Betancourt, Green and Carrillo in the Annals of Internal Medicine (Cross-Cultural Primary Care: A Patient-Based Approach. Ann Intern Med. 1999;130:829-834). Rather than memorizing facts about a multitude of cultural or ethnic groups, the patient-based approach centers on the idea that patients themselves are your best source of information about their own unique cultural perspectives. Quality Interactions teaches a set of fundamental concepts and skills that are essential for physicians to provide more efficient and effective care to patients of all cultural backgrounds.
Quality Interactions® is built with e-learning technology, which is time-flexible and allows the physician to move at his/her own pace, at a time that is convenient for them. In addition, it provides personalized, real-time performance feedback, as well as a summary of key concepts at the conclusion of the program. The Quality Interactions® program has been utilized to train over 20,000 health care professionals around the country. "As busy practicing physicians ourselves, we know that no one likes to be required to do more work. We developed this e-learning program as a way to make the task of cultural competence training not only interesting and clinically relevant, but also efficient and flexible," says Dr. Green, co-developer of the Quality Interactions® Program.
The program is specifically designed to address the requirements of the NJ Senate Bill 144, and is now available for individual physician sign-up (www.qualityinteractions.org), as well as for hospital systems seeking to make this essential training available to their physicians.
About Manhattan Cross Cultural Group: Manhattan Cross Cultural Group is a training and research organization committed to improving health care to diverse patient populations and to eliminating health disparities.
MCCG Contact
Tessa G. Misiaszek, MPH
Chief Operating Officer
Manhattan Cross Cultural Group
PO Box 273
Marshfield Hills, MA 02051
978-807-1058
tmisiaszek@qualityinteractions.org
