Amid racial tension in our nation, health institutions like COH are wise to ensure service with a sense of urgency and compassion is being provided to patients of various ethnicities, backgrounds, and cultures. Census data collected in 2010 reports that as many as 42.6 percent of the population in California speak a language other than English at home. Research has revealed that many patients, especially minority patients, are dissatisfied with communication with their physicians. Quality communication between patients and their providers is related to patient satisfaction, treatment adherence, and most importantly health outcomes.

Though cross-cultural care and the ability to communicate effectively with patients of various background are important aspects of medical education, institutional diversity training can lead to stereotyping or pigeonholing individuals of various minority groups (e.g. Latinos, Blacks). It is important to recognize that within group variance is larger than cross group variance. Diversity within a cultural group is affected by factors such as acculturation, social status, and individuality, thus, health care providers would benefit from recognizing the nuances of patients and the need for humility in every patient interaction.