Next Monday, Familias en Acción begins the first of what it hopes will be many free trainings for healthcare providers.
“At Familias en Acción, we found that many of the clients served through our patient navigator program had advanced stages of diseases and that they would benefit from, but were not receiving palliative care,” said Jaeme Klever, community engagement manager for Familias en Acción. “Limited cultural knowledge by healthcare personnel and lack of patient/family understanding of palliative care served as barriers to patients receiving optimal management of symptoms, psychosocial support, and assistance with decision making.”
Participants will get “an important grounding in culturally sensitive issues that can arise in interactions with patients and families with low-health literacy,” according to the course description, to help organizations care for Latino patients and their families with serious illnesses, leading to improved health outcomes.
Cambia Health Foundation is funding the free trainings in Idaho, Oregon, Utah, and Washington through December 2016. “In 2017 we will introduce new curriculum that focuses on palliative care for Latino pediatric and geriatric patients,” Klever said.
Latinos are the largest minority in Oregon. Based on 2013 census data, nearly 500,000 Latinos lived in Oregon, about 12 percent of the population. Of those who identified as Latinos, 63 percent were born in the United States. Oregon’s Latino population is growing at a rate faster than the national average with 72 percent growth since 2000.
Specifically, the course will teach the following:
- Define culturally competent care
- Recognize common Latino cultural traits and how they interface with clinical care and psychosocial support services
- How to see the value in your practice
- Define palliative care or “whole person” care for Latinos
- How to apply models of effective cross-cultural provider-patient communication to open and build a relationship
- Skills to elicit specific information from a patient about his/her cultural base
- Knowing when and how to use language interpreters
- Skill of using “Ask – Tell – Ask” with patients
- Understanding how social determinants can impact chronic disease management
- Understanding how using culturally competent practices can build health literacy
- Knowing when and how to discuss palliative care
- Knowing how to utilize Patient Navigators/Community Health Workers
The course provides four continuing education hours through the California State University Institute for Palliative Care. Although the class is free, a $25 processing fee will be charged to those who want CE hours. To register, call 503-201-9865 or email [email protected]. Jan can be reached at [email protected].
