Are Health Care Professionals Aware of the National Standards for Culturally Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS)?

Background: Language and cultural barriers affect access and quality of health care of any population. In December 2001, the Office of Minority Health of HHS released 14 standards on culturally and linguistically appropriate services (CLAS) in health care. The CLAS standards provide assistance on how health care providers can develop systematic approaches to fulfill these needs. However, the authors could not find published data on how well practitioners are aware of these standards and utilize other options for assisting limited-English proficient patients. Methods. A survey was developed, piloted, and sent via email to all faculty members (n=1,025 and students (n=1956) affiliated with the Medical College of Georgia. Reminder emails were sent after two weeks using an electronic email reminding system and responses were accepted for one month. Results. Total response rate from the faculty members was 29% (300/1,025) and for students was 44% (871/1,956). Nearly 23% of faculty and 21% of students reported they were less than “familiar” with CLAS standards. Forty four percent (1,081/2,981) of faculty and 70% students were willing to spend time learning Medical Spanish. When questioned about their knowledge on how to work with a medical interpreter, only 205 of faculty (20%) and 13% of student strongly agreed that they knew how to work with them. These results suggest that a void exists in understanding the National CLAS standards that is similar for both faculty members and students. There also appears to be a willingness to learn Spanish that is much greater for students than the faculty. Although web-based instruction was the most preferred chosen educational delivery mode, about half of both groups did not know their favorite method. The indications also point to the need for more instruction on how to work with medical interpreters. Finally the need for more reports form health care professionals regarding their current understanding of the National CLAS standards is desirable.