Objectives:

• Define “health disparities” and how they disproportionately affect ethnic and racial minority populations in the United States
• Describe the National Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) standards of the USDHHS Office of Minority Health and how they impact the ethical responsibilities of medical service providers
• Recognize that “ethnicity,” “race,” and “culture” are fluid categories that overlap and also include other aspects of identity that can include religion, sexual orientation, gender, class, etc
• Describe the practice of “cultural competence” in the health care setting
• Utilize the 7 basic components of asthma care and management according the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program (2007)
• Successfully navigate a Mexican American patient with limited English proficiency through the process of establishing culturally and linguistically care and obtaining referrals for treatment of her asthma