Advanced Effective Communication, Cultural Competence, and ...

A Roadmap for Hospitals
Chapter Six: Organization Readiness
Table 6-1. Five Domains of Organization Readiness for Implementing
Effective Communication, Cultural Competence, and
Patient- and Family-Centered Care
1. Leadership. Leaders must clearly articulate a hospital’s commitment to meet the unique needs of its patients to
establish an organization culture that values effective communication, cultural competence, and patient- and familycentered
care.
2. Data Collection and Use. The hospital must define what types of data to collect, how to collect data, and how to use
data for service planning and resource allocation to advance effective communication, cultural competence, and
patient- and family-centered care.
3. Workforce. The hospital and its staff, including the medical staff, must commit to meeting the unique needs of the
patients they serve.
4. Provision of Care, Treatment, and Services. The hospital, in striving to meet the individual needs of each patient,
must embed the concepts of effective communication, cultural competence, and patient- and family-centered care into
the core activities of its care delivery system.
5. Patient, Family, and Community Engagement. The hospital must be prepared to respond to the changing needs and
demographics of the patients, families, and the community served. The hospital can identify the need for new or
modified services by being involved and engaged with patients, families, and the community.
• Maintain the confidentiality of sensitive patient
information, including race, ethnicity, disability, sexual
orientation, and gender identity or expression
information.
• Protect patients from discrimination based on age, race,
ethnicity, religion, culture, language, physical or mental
disability, socioeconomic status, sex, sexual orientation,
and gender identity or expression.
• Allow patients open access to their medical records to
review their health care information and encourage
patients and families to participate in care discussions.
Recommended Issues and
Related Practice Examples that
Address the Data Collection and
Use Domain of Organization
Readiness
❑ Conduct a baseline assessment of the
hospital’s efforts to meet unique patient
needs.
Organization assessments and other assessments (such as
patient satisfaction surveys, data on readmissions, and so
on) can and should be used to develop and monitor the
effects of focused quality improvement activities that
support effective communication, cultural competence,
and patient- and family-centered care. It is important for
hospitals to conduct an organization assessment that
measures baseline performance on specific issues to know
where improvement might be necessary, detect gaps and
areas of excellence, and tailor improvement interventions.
An organization assessment can include standardized tools
that allow for valid cross-organizational comparisons,
benchmarking, and objective performance tracking over time.
Assessments may comprise informal discussions, organization
or individual self assessments, or standardized evaluations.
Some helpful examples of organization assessment tools
and resources include the Joint Commission’s “Tailoring
Initiatives to Meet the Needs of Diverse Populations: A
Self-Assessment Tool” [9], the 360-degree organizational
communication climate assessment toolkit from The
Ethical Force Program ® (led by the Institute for Ethics at
the American Medical Association) [2,10,11], Planetree’s
“Self-Assessment Tool” in its Patient-Centered Care
Improvement Guide [12], Conducting a Cultural Competence
Self-Assessment [13], The Americans with Disabilities Act
Checklist for Readily Achievable Barrier Removal [14], or
information included in the Human Rights Campaign
Foundation’s Healthcare Equality Index [15].
• Identify existing hospital policies and procedures that
support effective communication, cultural
competence, and patient- and family-centered care.
• Collect feedback from all key stakeholder groups.
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