The hospital spends $3 million a year on interpreters covering 50 different languages to help serves many diverse cultural groups. Each group has unique cultural beliefs about life and death, medical treatment and illness. The article highlights some instances of providing culturally sensitive care:
On an afternoon in late September, Dr. Pryce and Dr. Harare, the interpreter and patient advocate, emerged from an examining room looking tired but wryly triumphant.
They had just finished negotiating, politely but persistently, with a patient who — just as politely but persistently — had refused to allow any blood tests because it was the holy month of Ramadan and he feared that having blood drawn might be a sin.
Finally, they telephoned an imam, who declared there was no sin. The blood was drawn.
Dr. Pryce says one of the great joys of working in a hospital like Hennepin is finding ways to bridge such cultural divides — and knowing that his patients are better off because of it.
Hospice Foundation of America's Year 2009 initiative focuses on these same challenges faced by professionals who provide care at the end of life, from the time of terminal diagnosis all the way through the grieving process. HFA's teleconference program, Diversity and End-of-Life Care, will be shown twice on April 29 -- first live via satellite and webcast at 1:30 p.m. EDT, and then replayed at 7:30 p.m. EDT (webcast only).
Three hours of Continuing Education Unit credits are available for a wide range of professions, including nurses, social workers, physicians, psychologists, licensed counselors, nursing home administrators, clergy, EMS personnel, EAP professionals, and funeral directors.
Find a site to watch the broadcast near you, or register to host the teleconference in your community.
