Caring for culturally diverse patients: one agency's journey toward cultural competence.

Across the United States, spanning urban, suburban, and rural areas, racial and ethnic minority populations are growing faster than White English-speaking populations. Increasingly, healthcare professionals are providing care to patients from diverse cultures with traditions and beliefs that may be unfamiliar and with health practices that may conflict with western medicine. How can home care and hospice professionals navigate this new terrain and communicate effectively across cultural boundaries? One agency's journey toward cultural competency may provide a road map for others.