Navigating Culture Rupture & Repair with Cultural Humility

Friday, May 16, 2025, 10 AM

During this online education session, Hannah Dufek highlighted cultural humility as essential for leaders in diverse, high-pressure settings like outpatient surgery centers. This approach—grounded in openness, curiosity, and self-awareness—helps leaders navigate cultural differences. Dufek stressed the importance of recognizing and repairing cultural ruptures to build trust, strengthen collaboration, and support resilient patient care and team dynamics.

Dufek provided frameworks and strategies for recognizing signs of rupture, understanding their roots, and effectively repairing harm in a way that prioritizes progress over perfection. The session included practical tools such as the 5 D’s of Differences, markers of cultural rupture, and both immediate and longer-term exploratory repair techniques. She encouraged participants to reflect on their own identities using the ADDRESSING model and to remain engaged in ongoing self-examination and reflection.

Top 6 Takeaways for ASC Leaders:

1. Recognize the Signs of Cultural Rupture
• Cultural ruptures often manifest through withdrawal (e.g., minimal responses, avoidance) or confrontation (e.g., criticism, pushback).
• Learn to identify the 5 D’s of Differences—Distancing, Denial, Defensiveness, Devaluing, and Discovery—to detect when cultural tension may be at play in patient or team interactions.
2. Adopt a Mindset of Cultural Humility
• Approach differences with openness, humility, and curiosity rather than certainty or assumption.
• Understand that no one can know everything about another person’s identity and experience—and that’s okay.
3. Apply Immediate Repair Strategies in the Moment
• When a rupture occurs, use simple techniques: clarify misunderstandings, refocus on shared goals, provide context, or shift the conversation when necessary.
• In fast-paced, high-stress clinical settings, time for reflection may be limited. Prioritize validating the other person's experience and asking what they need in that moment to feel heard and supported.
4. Use Exploratory Repair to Deepen Understanding
• When possible, invite dialogue by asking about the other person's thoughts or feelings.
• Acknowledge the impact of your words or actions, disclose your own reflections, and take responsibility without centering your own discomfort.
5. Practice Grounding, Listening, and Proportional Apologizing
• Before responding, notice your own emotions and pause to stay present.
• Prioritize the other person’s experience, offer a clear and sincere apology when appropriate, and follow up to show ongoing commitment to repair.
6. Avoid Common Missteps
• Don’t fall into all-or-nothing thinking, guilt-driven responses, or avoidance of future cultural conversations.
• Embrace imperfection—repair and relationship-building matter more than getting it “right” every time.

Resources:
VIEW: Presentation slides
WATCH: Session Recording (MNASCA Member login required to access this content)

This session served as a powerful reminder that leadership in healthcare isn’t just clinical—it’s relational. By recognizing and repairing cultural ruptures, ASC leaders can foster stronger, more inclusive teams and deliver more empathetic, responsive care.

Continuing Education Credit: This program is approved for up to 1.0 hour of AEUs by BASC Provider #6240 for the content area: Delivery of Patient Care. For more information, please review the BASC Approval Letter and Content Breakdown.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify and understand cultural ruptures: Participants will learn to recognize moments when cultural ruptures arise and understand their impact on patient-caregiver encounters.
• Develop strategies to repair cultural ruptures: Attendees will acquire practical tools and techniques to address ruptures in real time, enhancing trust and empathy in medical settings.
• Enhance cultural competence in healthcare delivery: Participants will gain skills to deliver more effective, culturally attuned care.