Race Ethnicity Language: Leading for Improvement

In the July 28 Nurse Leader Lunch & Learn, leaders from 4 AF4Q Improving Languages Hospitals in Maine talked about the reasons why a focus on race ethnicity and language data collection and improvement is vital to the health and success of our Maine Communities as well as our Maine hospitals. They discussed the nursing role in this effort including information about accessing and documenting interpreter use, and told about practical challenges and useful strategies that hospitals have used in this effort. They provided information on the wealth of resources available to support improvement in providing services for people of all races, ethnicities, and languages.

Research has long documented that people from less prevalent racial and/or ethnic backgrounds or whose primary language is other than English have poorer health outcomes and often do not receive the same quality of health care services as the majority population. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation & Maine Quality Counts Aligning Forces For Quality Hospital Quality Network Initiative on Improving Languages is focusing on reducing these differences in several ways.

Speakers included:  
-Maureen Clancy, Manager of Community Programs and Partnerships, Mercy Hospital; Project Lead, AF4Q Hospital Quality Network

-Ann-Marie Knowles, RN, MBA, Director, Care Management, Liaison Behavioral Health and Ambulance Services,Eastern Maine Medical Center

-Jessica Loney RN, MSN, Community Health Education Coordinator, Community Health Improvement Department, Mid Coast Hospital

-Jeralyn A. Maurer, Director Guest Relations, Central Maine Medical Center