UMDNJ is committed to providing healthcare professionals with relevant and insightful training to promote culturally competent health care and the elimination of health disparities. Its continuing education activities are focused on helping healthcare providers to appreciate and utilize cultural competency as a key strategy for improving patient care and health outcomes.

UMDNJ faculty leaders in the field were instrumental in advocating for and writing the ground-breaking cultural competency CME legislation in New Jersey. That legislation made New Jersey the first state in the nation to specifically require its licensed physicians to undergo additional hours (6) of CME training in cultural competency. The rules associated with the legislation identify six key elements of cultural competency training to be addressed in whole or in part within the CME offerings:

1. A context for the training, common definitions of cultural competence, race, ethnicity and culture and tools for self-assessment;
2. An appreciation for the traditions and beliefs of diverse patient populations, at multiple levels -- as individuals, in families and as part of a larger community;
3. An understanding of the impact that stereotyping can have on medical decision-making;
4. Strategies for recognizing patterns of health care disparities and eliminating factors influencing them;
5. Approaches to enhance cross-cultural clinical skills, such as those relating to history-taking, problem solving and promoting patient compliance; and
6. Techniques to deal with language barriers and other communication needs, including working with interpreters.

CCOE is constructing a portfolio of activities -- live and online, short- and long-duration -- to assist healthcare professionals in New Jersey and throughout the nation to obtain appropriate CME training in cultural competency and health disparities. The following activities have been reviewed for compliance with the letter and spirit of the New Jersey legislation and the elements addressed in each are noted. Additional activities will be added on a regular basis.

Please follow the specific instructions for each activity in order to access the activity and receive the CME credit. Some activities may require registration on a third-party site.