OAR 950-040-0020: Cultural Competency Continuing Education Resources and Support

(1) The Authority, through its Office of Equity and Inclusion, shall create, maintain and make available a registry of approved continuing education opportunities for developing cultural competence for regulated health care professionals. The continuing education opportunities may include, but are not limited to: (a) Courses delivered either in person or electronically; (b) Experiential learning such as cultural or linguistic immersion; (c) Service learning; or (d) Specially designed cultural experiences. (2) The Authority, through its Office of Equity and Inclusion, shall create, maintain and make available the criteria used to evaluate and approve continuing education opportunities for developing cultural competency in regulated health care professionals. (3) Affected boards that choose to develop, review, or approve their own or other continuing education opportunities shall use the Authority criteria in developing, reviewing, or approving their own or other continuing education opportunities for regulated health care professionals. (4) The Authority shall establish an advisory committee to: (a) Develop or update criteria for approving cultural competency continuing education opportunities. (b) Review, discuss and recommend for approval to the Authority, submitted applications for cultural competence continuing education opportunities. (5) The advisory committee shall include, at minimum: (a) A representative from an Oregon federally recognized tribe. (b) Members of communities that experience health disparities or inequities because of race, ethnicity or culture. (c) A representative of intersecting identities of race, ethnicity, or culture, with LGBTQ, disability, or other disenfranchised community identity. (d) A patient advocate. (e) Representatives of impacted health care professional boards. (f) A representative of Coordinated Care Organizations. (g) A representative of an association or educational entity that offers continuing education to health professionals. (6) Authority approved continuing education opportunities shall teach attitudes, knowledge and skills enabling health care professionals to effectively communicate with and care for patients from diverse cultures, groups, and communities. These skills may include: (a) Applying linguistic skills to communicate effectively with patients. (b) Using cultural information to establish therapeutic relationships. (c) Eliciting, understanding and applying cultural and ethnic data in the process of clinical care. (7) The Authority shall base the list of approved opportunities for cultural competency continuing education on the criteria established by the advisory committee. The criteria for culturally competent opportunities, as defined in the Cultural Competency Education Criteria document, fall into four domains: (a) Domain I: Culturally competent practice requires self-awareness and self-assessment of providers’ beliefs, attitudes, emotions and values. (b) Domain II: Culturally competent practice requires the acquisition of knowledge by providers. (c) Domain III: Culturally competent practice requires the acquisition of skills by providers. (d) Domain IV: Culturally competent training requires specific educational approaches.