Opening the book…
Dr. Melanie Tervalon, with Dr. Jann Murray-Garcia and other colleagues, has offered an alternative approach, what she calls Cultural Humility.
She has criticized the idea that anyone can become "competent" in a culture not their own. She challenges the trend within medical education, in particular, that fosters the idea of doctor omniscience and expertise. It's hard enough (maybe impossible) to know all one should know medically. It's ridiculous to also presume that in a short period of time, a medical resident can become culturally "competent," an expert in all the cultural variety in our world. In place of "cultural competency," she posits the idea of "cultural humility." The word "humility" comes from "humble" - like, not holding yourself above others. "Cultural humility" does notmean feeling humiliated - it means recognizing your limitations and keeping open to the full humanity of the person in front of you.
Cultural humility is defined as a:
. . . process that requires humility as individuals continually engage in self-reflection and self-critique as lifelong learners and reflective practitioners, it requires humility in how physicians bring into check the power imbalances that exist in the dynamics of physician-patient communication by using patient-focused interviewing and care, and it is a process that requires humility to develop and maintain mutually respectful and dynamic partnerships with communities.
From Tervalon M, Murray-Garcia J. Cultural humility versus cultural competence: a critical distinction in defining physician training outcomes in multicultural education. J Health Care Poor Underserved 1998; 9(2):17-25.Cited in Bridging the Gap: A Curriculum to Teach Residents Cultural Humility, by Jennifer Anderson Juarez, MEd; Kim Marvel, PhD; Kristen L. Brezinski, MS; Cherie Glazner, MD; Michael M. Towbin, MD; Susan Lawton, MD. Fam Med 2006;38(2):97-102.
Take a moment to view these first 7 minutes of a 30 minute video about cultural humility (produced by Dr. Vivian Chavez of SF State). In this video, pay attention to the 3 or 4 components of cultural humility that are emphasized:
- Lifelong learning and critical self-reflection
- Recognize and change (or challenge) power imbalances
- Patient-centered interviewing and care
- Institutional accountability to communities
This page titled 9.19: Cultural Humility was last modified on Tue, 19 Aug 2025 21:44:23 GMT and is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Janey Skinner.
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