Cultural competence… is an acknowledgment and incorporation of the importance of culture, assessment of cross-cultural relations, vigilance toward the dynamics that result from cultural differences, expansion of cultural knowledge, and adaptation of services to meet culturally unique needs on the part of clinicians and health-care systems. Some clinicians state that they interact with all patients in the same manner. Indeed, being culturally competent implies that clinicians not treat patients the same, given the cultural dynamics each brings to the encounter.”(1) Cross-cultural understanding and cultural competence in healthcare is essential to overcome cultural barriers between patients and healthcare providers in order to ensure effective healthcare delivery and medical compliance. When misunderstood, cultural differences can adversely affect communication between the physician and the patient, and this can negatively impact healthcare outcomes. For example, “not realizing that when a man named Xiong or Lee or Moua walked into the Family Practice Center with a stomachache he was actually complaining that the entire universe was out of balance, the young doctors of Merced frequently failed to satisfy their Hmong patients.”(2) Since the doctors at the Family Practice Center failed to recognize that their Hmong patients attributed their illnesses to causes other than biological pathologies, they were unable to effectively help their Hmong patients.