CLAS Standards

In order to learn more about the cultural competence of my desired major, I decided to look on the Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonography (SDMS) website. I found both similarities and differences when comparing the SDMS principles to the CLAS standards. One standard that stood out to me on the SDMS website states, “Maintain continued competence through lifelong learning, which includes continuing education, acquisition of specialty specific credentials and recredentialing” (Code of Ethics for Diagnostic Medical Sonography, 2006).  This means that sonographers must continue their education throughout their entire career. This is so important because as technology advances, sonographers will have to adapt to new ways of doing things. I found a similar standard on the CLAS website, “Conduct ongoing assessments of the organization's CLAS-related activities and integrate CLAS-related measures into measurement and continuous quality improvement activities” (What are the National CLAS Standards?). Similar to the standard on the SDMS website, it is stating that ongoing assessments must be made in order to continue improving quality. There were also differences that I noticed when comparing the two sites. On the SDMS site it states, “Respect the patient's autonomy and the right to refuse the procedure” (Code of Ethics for Diagnostic Medical Sonography, 2006). I never saw a standard on the CLAS list that I thought was very similar to that standard. Many of them seemed to focus on language and communication barriers that can exist between the patient and caregiver. An example of this is, “Inform all individuals of the availability of language assistance services clearly and in their preferred language, verbally and in writing” (What are the National CLAS Standards?). I believe the difference is because sonographers have a set list of standards they need to follow that relate to performing tests and procedures on patients. On the other hand the CLAS is more focused on healthcare organizations as a whole. Both of these standards are incredibly important, but it was interesting to see how these lists of requirements can be so different from each other.

https://www.sdms.org/about/codeofethics.asp