Nursing

Use diversity training to stop discrimination in your facility

Nurse Leader Weekly, March 25, 2005

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Dr. Stevens treats both Mr. Smith, a white patient, and Mr. Williams, an African-American patient, for heart conditions. However, Dr. Stevens suggests additional drugs and follow-up specialty care for Mr. Smith, while Mr. Williams is sent home with only a prescription.

To ensure that such disparities do not occur within your organization, identify where it stands on the issue of cultural diversity and train staff to be culturally competent caregivers.

Hospitals are slowly changing their policies and procedures-which inevitably affect staff training programs-to address cultural diversity issues, says Felicia Batts, MPH, principal of her firm, Consulting By Design in Fresno, CA . However, organizations still have a long way to go, she says.

"You can be a culturally competent individual, but if you work in a hospital where cultural competency is not fully embraced as a business fundamental, then what are you to do?" says Batts.

On the right track
Some hospitals are getting it right. For example, the staff at A.O. Fox Memorial Hospital in Oneonta , NY, receive ongoing diversity training, says Wendy L. Fisher, RN, BS, the hospital's patient education coordinator.

"We began our [diversity training] program with a live, institution-wide training session which every employee was required to attend, including doctors," says Fisher.

Go team
The session was run by Fox Memorial's cultural diversity team, which was made up of a number of key players, including the director of education, an education assistant, and staff from the nursing home education department, communications, business office, and medical records.

The team was responsible for researching the issues related to cultural diversity and preparing important information to share with staff, such as statistical data explaining the demographics of populations in surrounding counties. (Fisher did this by using the U.S. Census Bureau's Web site.)

In its quest to further understand cultural diversity, the team also booked a representative from a state agency to talk about the topic and provide training tips, says Fisher.

It's training time
After gathering enough information to showcase what they learned, members of the cultural diversity team introduced themselves to the organization via a monthly newsletter, Fisher says.

The team used the first issue to explain what it was and its purpose. The following issues included quizzes and interesting statistics about diverse local and world populations, as well as ethnic recipes, to spotlight and celebrate diversity.

The team then created a PowerPoint presentation that covered, among other topics, the definition of cultural diversity and the values and communication styles of various cultures. The presentation was shown to staff during the live training sessions at the cultural diversity training program's kick off, says Fisher.

Now the presentation is shown to new hires as part of mandatory education during orientation, Fisher says. It was also added to the organization's mandatory education book, on which all staff are tested annually.

Another way Fisher and her team got every nurse, doctor, and staff member up to speed on diversity training was by holding hour-long, mandatory sessions. They were run for several months to ensure that everyone attended.

During these sessions-which are now performed for new hires during orientation-a member of the cultural diversity team briefly lectures about diversity and the importance of cultural sensitivity. Then he or she acts out real-life scenarios in which people were discriminated against in the hospital.

"We give these scenarios [to staff] and then ask, 'If you were in this situation, how would you handle it?' We do this to help them use their [critical thinking] skills," says Fisher.

Nursing-specific cultural competencies
Fisher specifically targeted nurses' cultural competencies by handing out self-learning packets with accompanying quizzes.

For example, Fisher compiled a packet to teach nurses how to honor and respect members of different cultures who live in the surrounding areas. The packets educate nurses about how to best serve the diverse patient populations that are most likely to walk through the door every day, says Fisher.

Source: Adapted from Competency Management Advisor (March 2005), published by HCPro, Inc.



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