January 21, 2007

Report to Date

Submitted by Team Members:

Wanda Craft, RN NMI, G Lodge

Gwen Walters, RN BSN, NMII J Lodge

Julia Coons, MS RN BC, Coordinator of Staff Development        

Phase I:        Completed

In an atmosphere of the Hispanic population, the team members of the HPH cultural competency project provided an introduction to the project and passed out cultural candies purchased from the local tiendas. As many staff members did not utilize the employee entrance or team members needed to return to areas of patient care, brochures and candies were distributed to the lodges and offices of administrative staff.

Available on the display table was a scrapbook which contained photographs of the team members intensive four day inservice at the South Carolina Upstate Health Care Institute in Clemson. 

Also, during Phase I a cultural competency resource book entitle “Culture & Clinical Care” written by Juliene Lipson and Suzanne Dibble was ordered and reviewed by the team members. This book contains information on communication (verbal and non verbal), cultural/ethnic identity, spiritual/religious orientation, activities of daily living, food practices, symptoms management, etc. of 35 different cultures.  This resource book was found not only to be an asset for staff to use to enhance cultural competency but user friendly. Our project has requested that a copy of this book be ordered for each lodge and for inservice education. 

*Note: Special thank you goes to Jorge Gonzalez for his assistance in translating into Spanish the immersion activities of team members. This was utilized to augment the scrapbook’s presentation.

Phase II:        Ongoing

A list of Spanish words was provided to 3rd shift assist NMI.  These words will be added and changed daily to the top of the shift change report sheet. This is to enhance staffs’ knowledge of the Spanish language.

In addition, at the request of numerous non nursing staff, the word of the day will be distributed to the hospital via email.  Staff members with email access are asked to share this ‘word’ with those who do not have direct email access.

At present, there is no K Lodge representative and the team members request one be selected as we proceed onto Phase III.

*Note: It was satisfying to see/hear a number of nursing staff who were already familiar with the Spanish language.

Phase III:        Ongoing

This is one of the educational components of this project.  A pre-test has been prepared by the team members.  This will be given to all three shifts via a rotating schedule during shift change report. After the pre-test, Gwen, Wanda, Julia and K Lodge representative or Julia will provide a short presentation on the Hispanic culture.  This will be followed by a 10 – 15 video presentation entitled “Worlds Apart”.

The goal date for completion is late February. After all nursing staff have participated in this educational component, a summary of the pre educational knowledge of staff will be analyzed. A post-test will then be administered by the team members.  This will provide information on knowledge gained on areas addressed in the tests i.e. the outcome measure of the education provided.  This data will be utilized as part of a poster presentation on April 25th in Columbia. The information gained by the team members will be shared not only with HPH staff but also with nurses of the Midlands and Pee Dee Upstate Areas.  It is also important to note here that our project will become a part of the Upstate AHEC summary in response to meeting the goals identified when approved for a three year HRSA grant.

*Note: Team members of this project are aware that it needs to be multidisciplinary and include all departments of HPH.  Numerous areas of change were identified. These areas included but were not limited to discharge planning, medication education, etc. etc.  Therefore, we elected to provide our staff with a basic knowledge of the Hispanic culture.

*Note: As the area of focus of this project is nursing, non-nursing staffs’ pre test and post test results will not be included in the statistical data of this project.

Additional Project Initiatives to Date:

Janine Ferra, Manager of Diversity and Language Sciences at AnMed Health has been scheduled to address the use of interpreters.  Her inservice will be inclusive of appropriate use of interpreters, use of language lines, and the non-English speaking Hispanic patient in the psychiatric setting. Team members want to encourage NMI to attend so that they can facilitate dissemination of information that is presented.  This program is co-sponsored by Upstate AHEC and open to the public.  The program will be April 12, 2007 from 1:30 – 3:30 in the small gym. (Registration is mandatory) This has been scheduled on a date of Department Director’s meeting in hopes that they too will incorporate this information into their plans of cultural competency.

A cloth world map has been procured and an attempt is being made to find a centrally located enclosed bulletin board.  Staff will be provided pins that they can utilize to indicate the area of their cultural origin.  As it will be centrally located, all HPH staff will be able to see the vast diversity of employees at HPH.

Dr. Connor-Greene, Associate Professor of Psychology at Clemson University has been contacted.  She has provided resource information for a possible speaker to address the Hispanic/Latino culture and its different dialects.  Dr. Paula Heusinkveld , Associate Professor of Spanish at Clemson University has been contacted.  Dr. Heysinkveld has traveled extensively and led numerous groups throughout Mexico and has written a book entitled “Inside Mexico:  Living, Traveling, and Doing Business in a Changing Society”.

Research has been completed utilizing search engines Google and CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature). An annotated bibliography has been written which can be utilized by the team members to write a professional paper to submit for publication.  Team members have chosen to submit to APNA (American Psychiatric Nurses Association) Journal.

A resource manual for use by nursing staff is in the process of being completed.  Utilizing the information gained at the South Carolina Health Care Institute, this manual will contain medical as well as psychiatric services available to Hispanic patients.  These facilities address the 6 A’s of healthcare of minority and/or undocumented populations. (Availability, Accessibility, Affordability, Acceptable, Appropriate, and Adoptable). This manual will not only be available to assist with discharge planning but also will utilize the nursing process when individualizing your patient care.

Each team member has agreed that bulletin boards would be excellent on each unit.  A children’s book, Hispanic Bulletin Boards and Activities has been purchased to use as a guideline for ideas.

cc:        Diane Jacob

       Coach/Representative of HPH Cultural Competency Project for Upstate AHEC