Cultural Competence: It All Starts at the Front Desk
This practical resource from Georgetown University’s National Center for Cultural Competence addresses a critical gap in healthcare equity by focusing on the cultural and linguistic competence of front desk and administrative staff. Drawing from real family experiences, the guide demonstrates how insensitive interactions at the reception desk—often families’ first and most frequent point of contact—can create significant barriers to care, leading to missed appointments, delayed treatment, and feelings of discrimination. The resource provides concrete organizational recommendations including policy development, staff training, and quality improvement mechanisms to ensure that healthcare practices, clinics, and hospitals deliver culturally responsive service from the moment families walk through the door, emphasizing that achieving truly equitable healthcare requires attention to every point of contact in the care journey.