Plenary Session: Thursday, October
3, 8:00 — 9:15 am
"The Role of Language and Culture in Patient Safety"
Paul M. Schyve, MD Senior Vice President, Joint Commission on
Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations
The need for culturally and linguistically competent health care services
for diverse populations is attracting increased attention from provider
organizations, health care professionals, and those who judge the quality
of these services. Today patients have defined rights that guide their
care, which include the right to have cultural differences respected in
their care, and to have their communication needs met. However, how do
these patient rights influence clinical and service outcomes and affect
patient safety? This is the topic that will be explored during this session.
The presentation will provide an overview of the historical development
of the role of Joint Commission accreditation in addressing cultural and
linguistic competence in the provision of health care to diverse populations.
As seen by the Joint Commission, this development had three phases. The
first phase involved the identification of certain rights of all patients,
including the rights to participate in decision-making about their care,
to receive understandable information on which to base their decisions,
and to have their need for communication met. During this initial phase,
the relationship of cultural and linguistic issues to these rights was
identified. The second phase linked the exercise of these patient rights
to patient health outcomes and patient perceptions of care, including
satisfaction with care. Specifically, health outcomes are influenced by
the patient’s involvement in care and perceptions of care are influenced
by both the communication with the patient and the sensitivity of the
care to cultural issues. The third–and current–phase emphasizes
the relationship of patient safety to cultural and linguistic competence:
they are critical to patient safety.
This presentation will explore the role of cultural and linguistic competence
in reducing medical errors and improving patient safety. A number of ongoing
Joint Commission initiatives aimed at improving the quality and safety
of health care provided to diverse populations will be discussed. In addition,
the session will address the multi-dimensional aspect of diversity in
health care. It will explore how cultural and linguistic differences among
health care professionals can influence the effectiveness of safety focused
team work in a health care setting.
Paul M. Schyve, MD is the Senior Vice President of the Joint Commission
on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. Before joining the Joint
Commission in 1986, he held a variety of professional and academic appointments
in the areas of mental health, hospital, and health system administration,
including as Director of the Illinois State Psychiatric Institute, Clinical
Director of the State of Illinois Department of Mental Health and Developmental
Disabilities, and Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University
of Chicago. Dr. Schyve is a Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association
and has published in the areas of psychiatric treatment and research,
quality assurance, continuous quality improvement, health care accreditation,
patient safety, and health care ethics.
Paul M. Schyve, MD
Senior Vice President
Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations
One Renaissance Boulevard
Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181
Phone: 630-792-5950
Fax: 630-792-4650
E-mail: pschyve@jcaho.org
Web: http://www.jcaho.org
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