Raising the bar on cultural competency
To have a successful encounter with patients, families or coworkers, you have to meet them where they are. Sounds simple enough, but it can be complicated – especially if you don’t understand where they are or how they got there.
The Office of Diversity and Inclusion recently launched the Cultural Competency Champion (C3) program to help staff develop the skills they need to create a culturally responsive work environment and improve patient/family interactions. The 10-month program, which launched in December, consists of four in-person workshops and four phone calls that focus on:
- Assessing the patient’s/family’s understanding and perception of their disease
- How to de-escalate tense situations
- Empathic listening
- The use of interpreters and translators
Human Resources Interim Manager Charla Weiss, PhD, and consultant Anyah Land, MPH, worked with the Patient Services Professionalism Tenet Council Committee to build the C3 program, which includes a website and a private Yammer group. “Our goal was to have 50 people in the program. We signed up 147,” says Weiss. “The program has rigor and professionalism. Participants also earn contact hours, as an added value.”
“We teach the Kleinman Model of Inquiry – a tool approved by the Joint Commission to better understand patient/family behaviors,” says Land. “It’s a series of eight questions that help us see the situation from the family’s point of view – what they call the problem, how they talk about it with their child, what their expectations are about treatment and what their biggest fear is. Perception drives behavior. So, if we want to change behavior, say, to help the family be more receptive to health information or taking medications, we have to change the perception.”
Teresa Bowling, a family financial advocate in the Cancer and Blood Diseases Institute, is a C3 program participant and a believer in its benefits. “Families come to us with a lot of concerns and fear,” she explains. “My role is to bridge the gap between the medical team and the financial world. Some families are ready to hear what I have to offer, but others aren’t. They shut down. Maybe they haven’t fully accepted their child’s diagnosis. C3 helps me find the best approach to getting the best outcome for them.”
The C3 program requires about one hour of time per month. During the bimonthly phone calls, participants volunteer to present case studies and share how they’ve implemented the skills they’ve learned. Says Bowling, “The training gives us the opportunity to talk to each other and know we’re not alone in the challenges we face.”
The workshops and webinars are recorded so they can be streamed and watched when schedules allow. “Time is so precious. We’ve tried to make the program as accessible as possible,” says Land. “We’ve charged our members to take what they’ve learned and engage with their units. We want to have a ripple effect of cultural positivity.”
The program’s first cohort will wrap up in September with Weiss presenting at Nursing Grand Rounds, followed by group sharing and individual recognition. “We’re looking at how to expand our reach for the next fiscal year,” says Weiss. “Our program is not just for clinical staff. In fact, 40 percent of our participants are nonclinical. Our goal is to reach all 15,000-plus employees.”
To learn more about Cultural Competency Champions, contact diversity@cchmc.org.
