Diversity and Inclusion defined at Monmouth Medical Center
Why Diversity and Inclusion?
We recognize that Our Staff, Leadership, Physicians and Board need to represent and reflect the communities that we serve. This will allow Monmouth Medical Center to provide and deliver better, more appropriate healthcare services and programs to those who need it.
Key Definitions:
Diversity
RWJBarnabas HEALTH defines diversity as a variety of patterns which includes
but is not limited to values, customs, differences, and similarities.
Inclusion
Inclusion is a proactive approach to leveraging diversity by consciously
inviting, welcoming, respecting, and engaging each other without bias.
It enables us to harness the power of diversity to achieve its goals by
intentionally embracing an expansive set of attitudes, attributes, cultures,
and skills throughout the system.
Equity
Equity results from delivering high quality patient-centered care to our
diverse patients and communities in ways that accommodate their cultural,
social, and physical differences. It leads to helping one reach one’s
full potential.
Cultivating Cultural Competency:
Our goal is to create an environment free of harm, focused on quality care resulting in equitable outcomes in a mutually respectful and courteous manner for all.
Workforce Optimization in Action:
We will achieve this goal in collaboration with our Board of Trustees, Hospital Leadership, Physicians and Staff. Building a culture of mutual respect for everyone is a strategic pillar intersecting with our high reliability organization (HRO) journey. We are committed to ensuring all colleagues, patients, patient family members and business associate interactions result in positive, harmless, helpful, inclusive and respectful experiences. Our ability to become a culturally competent health care provider depends on our success in fostering this cultural shift.
Operationalizing Diversity and Inclusion (D&I): Employee Engagement
Employee engagement began with cultural awareness. In May 2017, Monmouth
Medical Center hired its first Diversity and Inclusion Director. We began
to offer Cultural Competency Training to staff during New Hire Orientation,
Staff Meetings, Shared Governance, and other employee venues. A formal
D&I committee was followed and became instrumental in our overall
expansion and impact throughout the hospital. With the success of the
many employee engagement activities through this office, the D&I committee
was expanded to support cultural events that covered a vast number of
other programs including Black History Month, LGBTQ education and panels,
major support of the Annual Pride Parade and Garden State Equality events,
Hispanic Heritage Month, Cancer Support Walks, Community Health programs
and many other annual Healthcare Recognitions. Employee Engagement has
also produced the forming of our Multi-Cultural and Upward Bound Business
Resource Groups.
In August of 2017, RWJBH began cultural awareness training with computer-based
learning about Transgender Healthcare. This was an initial system wide
educational requirement that continues for new hires today. Additionally,
we have LGBTQ Pride Banners on display; we offer Gender Neutral Restrooms,
and an appropriate Patient Registration process to capture the healthcare
specific information needed to treat our patients in the safest, most
comprehensive, considerate and preferred manner. In an attempt to reduce
the specific gaps in accessing appropriate care to the LGBTQ+ population,
an LGBTQ Employee committee was created. Along with various other initiatives,
the committee connected with community resources such as PFLAG, PROUD
Transitions, Q Spot, Project Real, and others to ensure they could make
referrals and offer immediate support. This committee has been meeting
since May of 2017 following the guidelines for patient-centered care for
LGBTQ Americans found in the HEI Resource Guide and The Joint Commission
Field Guide. In addition to the required training received by staff during
Orientation, the Cultural Competency training offered to all staff by
the Department of Diversity and Inclusion also covers, respect and confidentiality
clauses for treating the LGBTQ patients at MMC.
Today the goal remains that the Director of D&I will deploy focused
leadership and accountability for developing and deploying a strategic
plan for MMC to achieve cultural competency.
The Monmouth Medical Center Office of Diversity and Inclusion, in collaboration
with the Corporate Office of D&I (CODI), developed strategic D&I
goals for 2018 and beyond. The following is a list of the goals that the
Monmouth Medical Center’s Office of D&I is working to achieve.