Health care professionals need to be culturally and spiritually sensitive, because the Joint Commission holds hospitals accountable for addressing and maintaining patient rights. These rights include the accommodation of cultural, religious, spiritual, and personal values as well as to religious and other spiritual practices. Responding to the unique needs of each patient and their loved ones also contributes to higher patient satisfaction. These tutorials can improve your knowledge and skills:
A Dictionary of Patients’ Spiritual & Cultural Values for Health Care Professionals
Cultural & Spiritual Sensitivity – A Learning Module for Health Care Professionals
- "I personally found your materials to be invaluable for our workshop 'Developing Cultural Sensitivity in Pediatric Palliative Care'," reported Dorothy Hill, Chairperson of the Helping Hands-Healing Hearts organization in Pittsburgh. Other workshop participants said:
- "Eye opening, thought provoking, would like to give to peers to open discussion."
- "It helped me to bring my values/beliefs to the forward in order to
incorporate the new religions today. The cultural values of others
(are) only able to make sense to me as long as I can open my heart and mind to the entire pictures -- including mine and theirs."
Please note: The Dictionary is a work in progress, and we welcome feedback via email to Rev. George Handzo, BCC at ghandzo@healthcarechaplaincy.org.
Coming Soon – an Important Guide from The Joint Commission
Coming soon is the new implementation guide developed by the Joint Commission who called upon the expertise of board certified chaplains affiliated with HealthCare Chaplaincy and the Association of Professional Chaplains. Its working title is:
Advancing Effective Communication, Cultural Competence, and Patient- and Family-Centered Care: A Roadmap for Hospitals
Effective communication is the cornerstone of patient safety. For many individuals, effective communication can be inhibited by language and cultural differences, or by the patient's hearing, speaking, or visual impairments, ability to understand and act on health information, cognitive impairments, disease, or disability.
Communication issues have been shown to be the main underlying cause of sentinel events reported to The Joint Commission, and the literature shows that communication vulnerable patients are at increased risk of medical error.
There are significant research data documenting health disparities faced by various groups and subpopulations related to race, ethnicity, language, disability, sexual orientation and gender identity or expression. These disparities are linked to poorer health outcomes and lower quality care. As the diversity of our nation continues to grow, there is an identifiable need to provide hospitals with more robust guidance to address the needs of the population(s) they serve.
Advancing Effective Communication, Cultural Competence, and Patient- and Family-Centered Care: A Roadmap for Hospitals is being developed by The Joint Commission to inspire hospitals to integrate concepts from the communication, cultural competence, and patient- and family-centered care fields into their organizations.
The recommendations in the guide do not encompass all aspects of these areas; however, they represent key issues that hospitals should consider to meet the unique needs of each patient.
Example practices and "how to" information are also included to help hospitals implement the recommendations and comply with related new and existing Joint Commission standards.
This guide is designed to provide concrete methods for hospitals to begin or improve upon their efforts to ensure that all patients receive the same high quality care, regardless of hospital location, size, or setting.
Implementation is expected to begin January 2011.
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