Services offered at valley children’s healthcare

Introduction

Valley Children’s Healthcare (VCH) is sitting in the edge of the Madera County in a 10-acre property, serving the needs of 12 counties of Central California. VCH is a Magnet recognized hospital by American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) since 2004, AACN Beacon Award Excellence, NAEC Level 3 Epilepsy Center, accredited by Joint Commission and Commissioned on Accreditation on Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) Retrieved from https://www. valleychildrens. org.

As one walks in the doors of the hospital there is a feeling of warm welcome and greetings from the smiling faces of the staff that are willing to make your visit as comfortable as possible. Valley Children’s Healthcare serves the healthcare needs of a diverse population. VCH serves 100 documented languages and 37 distinct cultures. The Central Valley Afterschool Foundation reported that California has a population of 37, 253, 956 and the Hispanic comprises 37. 6% while 46% of them reside in the Central Valley lifted (www. centralvalleyafterschool. org).

The writer will discuss the transcultural healthcare practices at Valley Children’s Hospital. More specifically the writer will examine potential organizational barriers to care for the members of the Spanish speaking community as a minority group that has a significant presence in the community.

Quality Performance Improvement Plan at VCH

Our leadership team plays a role in defining organizational culture and enabling systematic process improvement. Identified strategies include leadership activities, patient/family involvement, stories of success, quality initiatives, process redesign, identification of culture change opportunities and other strategies that positively impact culture. Valley Children’s Medical Group Board of Trustees, in collaboration with VCH Medical Staff, is responsible for the patient care and services. Specific improvement for patient safety program, nursing peer review, patient and family satisfaction surveys to name a few.

A Commitment to a Family-Centered Care

As an organization VCH has a Patient and Family Care Committee that has a members representing each unit and department through out the system with 2 years term renewable by the leadership. The duties and responsibilities are as follows:

Develop and implement programs and policies to support the individual care of the child.

Support the enculturation of the patient and family as partners in care at all levels.

Encouragement of support and network among families.

Understand the needs of the patients and their families.

There are 37 identified cultures that VCH serves and being a patient-family centered care organization there is a Cultural and Linguistic Access Steering Committee and the purpose is: for the healthcare providers to remove physical, cultural and linguistic barriers of health care and honoring the cultural, ethnic, racial and socioeconomic diversity of families. This movement coincides with the Joint Commission effort to improve access to care for populations with Limited English Proficiency (LEP).

Cultural and Spiritual Care of the patient at VCH

Patients/Families/Caregivers are more likely to follow medical regimen and have an easier time coping with the illness, if their own beliefs are supported. Beliefs will be honored as long as they do not pose a threat to the wellbeing of the patients or others. This policy promotes effective communication and cultural competence. It states that cultural/spiritual care refers to the efforts extended to assure that the individual’s personal belief system is integrated into his/her daily care. Issues related to cultural and /or spiritual factors will be identified upon admission and included in the plan of care. The patient/family/caregiver will maintain cultural/spiritual individuality throughout the hospitalization/home care episode. All patient caregivers, licensed and unlicensed and support staff are expected to apply a diverse, cultural approach to the care and education of individual patients, families or other caregivers.

Spiritual Care at VCH

VCH Spiritual Care is available for all patients, families and staff across the continuum of care. This service is provided within parameters as identified within hospital department policies, procedures and guidelines and carried out by Chaplains, Volunteer Chaplain Aides, Student Chaplains, Community Clergy and Spiritual Leaders.

Chaplains are available to assess and provide for spiritual, religious and cultural needs, e. g. prayer, religious literature, rituals, grief counseling, act as liaisons between patient/family and their church/clergy/spiritual leader. Also, chaplains provide religious/spiritual services, memorial services, and special holiday celebrations ethnic consultation and are available to be present and supportive with patients, families and staff. Open lines of communication exist between hospital departments and support services as well as community agencies, ensuring efficient effective and continuous patient care. The chaplains document their services and communication in the electronic Spiritual Care Record in Meditech and provided parameters. Spiritual Care Services staff members consult each other as needed, working as a team in meeting the cultural and spiritual needs of our patient and their families. Staff education consists of hospital orientation, annual mandatory education and discipline specific education. Community clergy, Volunteer Chaplain Aides and Spiritual Leaders are supported in meeting the spiritual and or religious needs of the members of their church, synagogue or temple, who are hospitalized. Religious leaders are called on a patient or family request. Volunteer Chaplain aides provide customer service visits to meet patient and family needs. All hospital chaplains and volunteers are accountable to the designated chaplain and to the department Director.

Interpreter Services, Scope of Services at VCH

Interpreter Services will follow the guidelines of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Any patient or family member who cannot adequately speak or understand English is legally entitled to an interpreter at no cost. It is Valley Children’s Healthcare’s commitment to make every effort to ensure adequate and timely communication between patients and care providers.

All limited and non-English speaking patients and families will be informed of the availability of language assistance. Valley Children’s Healthcare’s purpose is to provide communication services that will support the provision of patient care when communication is not optimal due to patients with Limited English Proficiency (LEP), those who are deaf, hard of hearing, or patients with communication limitations due to a disability. Interpreters are part of the team approach in bridging the communication and cultural barriers to our limited and non-English speaking patients and families. The provisions of services and mechanism of referrals are as follows: Phone language assistance is available by dialing #990 from any hospital phone. Touch screen video units that are located in assigned locations throughout the Hospital provide video language assistance. Face to face interpreters are requested by calling interpreter Service Department extension #35250 M-F, 8 am- 4: 45 pm. Evenings, weekends and holidays requests are made through the Hospital Operators. Rare languages not provided by staff, are scheduled by submitting an Interpreter Special Request Form found in the George Page (VCH Intranet). Staff Education consists of hospital orientation and an annual mandatory Interpreter education and training sessions as needed. Skill mix is based on the type of services provided and is periodically assessed to ensure the operational needs of the corporation are being met. Supplemental staffing includes qualified contracted medical Interpreters and Per Diem. The need for in-house interpreter is assessed based on the volume of interpreter requests. A staff interpreter who provides medical interpreting receives yearly training on medical terminology, Interpreter Ethics and Standards of practice. Documentation is maintained in the employee’s field file. Documentation of all interventions provided by staff interpreters is completed in Meditech.

Rights to Effective Communication

Staff will assess if there is a need for interpreter as soon as the patient is admitted. Translation services are available for any documents. American Sign Language Interpreter is available. Visitor’s restrictions are assessed upon admission, documented on the Pediatric Admission Data Base and referral made to the Social Worker. All restrictions are documented in the Care Plan. Parents can communicate with friends and families via emails using a computer, fax or telephone. For long distance call the Social Workers will facilitate the call using the toll free 800 numbers. Lifeline telephones through the telephone company will be provided when appropriate. Visitor’s restrictions policies are based on the following policies; high risk, patient and visitor conduct and child abuse reporting. Patients and families receive education regarding Patient Rights upon admission.

Conclusion

VCH is committed to provide high-quality, comprehensive healthcare services to children, regardless of their ability to pay, and to continuously improve the health and well being of children. With more than 575 physicians and 3, 400 staff VCH serves 1. 3 million patients and about 90% of the patient population has Medical and California Children’s Services (CCS) Health Insurance, meaning the families belongs to the low-income bracket to qualify for such services.

With the number of Hispanic patients and families that VCH serves, the availability of the medical interpreters reduces the stress and misunderstandings between the healthcare workers and the patients and families. Medical translations forms and educational materials are available. The interpreter service is available 24/7, either face-to-face interpretation and by phone. Several outlying services are offered through partners in the community.

The staff at Valley Children’s Healthcare is culturally diverse and has an annual online education regarding the cultural diversity education. As we serve multiple specialties, parents are encouraged to make same day appointment with the other specialty care and special medical or radiological exams to minimize the patients and families trips to VCH and live a life outside of the hospital. Educational materials as well as educational classes offered to the patients and parents are in their own language. During educational events face-to-face interpreters are presents to offer the needed medical interpretation. During admission to the inpatient, clinics, emergency room or surgery patients and parents are asked if they need an interpreter. The data gathered are written on the pediatric admission data sheet and is communicated during transfer of care. The staff of VCH does not have any negative attitudes towards patient’s home base practices. Patients are called by their first names when they are at VCH, and is greeted by the staff at first their contact.

At VCH, we practice Bloodless medicine when appropriate; example is the use of erythropoietin. The use of pet therapy and music therapy for the kids with lifelong chronic illnesses is utilized in the hospital. Child Life services offer multiple activities during the patient stay including medical play.

There are areas for improvement at VCH, but these are not barriers for an exceptional care, Educational Materials in different languages should be available on the website of the hospital for the education of the community members. Webinars on different languages regarding common illness should be available, this will facilitate accessibility of educational knowledge for community members. With all of these services available we say that at Valley Children’s your future is worth fighting for.