How to treat a patient who comes from a different cultural background? What should we pay attention to and what rules should we follow? The City of Poznan, together with the Medical University, has published a monograph and organised a scientific conference to help answer these questions.
The City of Poznań, in cooperation with the Karol Marcinkowski University of Medical Sciences, undertook the pioneering task of systematising issues concerning the everyday nature of working with patients from a different cultural and religious background. In order to facilitate the exchange of experiences and good practices among health care professionals, a scientific conference was organised on this topic. It was attended not only by hospital directors, but also by academics who deal with these issues on a daily basis.
The organisers of the scientific conference held on Wednesday (26.02) at the City Hall were the City of Poznań, the Department of Social Sciences and Humanities and the Department of Philosophy of Medicine and Bioethics of the Karol Marcinkowski Poznań Medical University.
- Despite the fact that nowadays there are often patients from a different cultural or religious background in hospital wards, such as Jehovah's Witnesses, Roma or Muslims, medical staff still sometimes react with embarrassment, says Ewa Baum, MD, Head of the Department of Philosophy of Medicine and Bioethics in the Department of Social Sciences at the Karol Marcinkowski Poznań University of Medical Sciences. - We are convinced that by deepening your knowledge, anxiety, confusion and frustration will disappear. Thanks to our professional approach and intercultural knowledge, we can become a partner and support for the patient, and he will no longer be a troublesome challenge for us, but a person who needs our care.
Thanks to the cooperation of the City of Poznań and the Karol Marcinkowski University of Medical Sciences in Poznań, a monograph entitled 'Cultural determinants of patient care' has been published in 2019. The publication is an attempt to show the needs, problems, as well as challenges and new solutions that arise and can be applied when working with a patient from a different cultural and religious background.
as deputy mayor Jędrzej Solarski stressed, it was very important for the city to produce a handbook that would provide practical support for medical staff, as the capital of Wielkopolska is becoming home to new residents who live according to the rules of their own religion and culture. This is where they live, study, work and sometimes - like everyone else - also need to seek medical assistance. We are rising to this challenge - we want every resident of Poznan, regardless of nationality, ethnicity or faith, to be able to enjoy a sense of comfort and security.