A woman is brought into your hospital in active labor with her male partner and

Question

A woman is brought into your hospital in active labor with her male partner and is in need of a Caesarean delivery. Both are parents-to-be identify as racially White. The male partner instructs the attending Resident and staff (nurses, technicians, physicians, etc.) that “no Blacks are to come in the room or participate in the delivery of the child.” The providers call the hospital administrator who decides to abide by the request of the patient. Throughout the birth and subsequent hospitalization, non-white staff are directed not to interact with the family.

Staff at the hospital react to this instruction with distress. They subsequently contact the news media, union representatives, and agencies that address discrimination.

Hospital Vice President said the supervisors were trying to avoid a confrontational situation by urging African American employees, including doctors, nurses, and service workers to stay out of the family’s room. She believed the supervisors had good intentions in trying to avoid a confrontation, but were wrong in trying to accommodate the man’s wishes and should have instead followed hospital policy. The decision to keep African Americans out of the patient’s room offended many employees of the hospital. The hospital’s President called the incident “morally reprehensible.”

Local NAACP members are calling on hospital administrators to discipline those supervisors who told African American employees to stay out of the patient’s room. In their opinions, “Obviously, the hospital’s policy against discrimination had no significant value to management because they willfully disregarded it. We just want to know what the consequences will be. If breaking the policy has no consequences, what’s the value of it?”

Since receiving the bad press in local and national media, demonstrators have begun gathering in front of the hospital, and occupancy rates have declined. Staff turnover rates have increased, and with so many new staff needing to be hired, it has become difficult to run the day-to-day operations of the hospital.

Answer the following questions:

What should administrators DO (list 5 specific action steps) in response to this incident? Provide a CLEAR RATIONALE for each of these action steps. How do you think people will respond to the implementation of these steps? Specifically, how do you think community members will respond to your proposed action steps? How do you anticipate employees and providers will respond to your proposed action steps?

What should community members DO (list 2 specific action steps) in response to this incident? Specifically, imagine you live near this hospital. What is your reaction to this incident, and what steps would you take based on your reaction to this incident?

Choose another group involved in this situation (patients, medical providers, other employees, policy-makers, members of the media, etc.) and list how that group should reaction to this incident. List 3 specific action steps and try to anticipate how hospital administrators might respond to your proposed action steps.

Imagine you are a consultant hired by hospital administrators to help them address this incident. When you pitch the idea of cultural competency training for ALL employees of the hospital, the administrators become resistant. The administrators agree to send the medical providers through training, but no one else. How can you build a case for the importance of cultural competency training for all employees at the hospital? Develop your argument completely AND explain HOW you would approach the administrators with your argument. Also explain what specific lessons you would include in your cultural competency training.

Explanation / Answer

1. The action steps for hospital administrators is given below:

All the above steps will have a positive impact in the minds of the community who are enraged at present due to the discriminatory incident. Also, the enraged staff would feel better about the hospital administration and the staff turnovers will also reduce.

2.As a community member, I would be disheartened and shocked after hearing about this incident. A community is composed of people from different races and backgrounds and discrimination against any member of the community is disrespectful. I would ensure I do my part to rectify this situation.

Suggested action steps for community members:

3. For the members of Media, the suggested reactions to this incident would be as below:

4. The hospital administration should be made aware of the importance of cultural competency training for all its staff. It is necessary in people facing industries , such as hospitals, that all the staff members and not just medical providers receive cultural competency training.

Since hospitals receive patients and their relatives from across the globe, the entire staff should be well versed in handling people from different backgrounds and cultures. This training would also help to reduce a lot of miscommunications.

I, as a consultant would approach the hospital authorities with detailed explanations of the importance of cultural competency trainings and how they have helped hospitals worldwide. It would be beneficial to show the examples where a lack of cultural competency had proved disastrous.

Certain specific lessons to be included in the training can be:

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