The system-wide, yearlong campaign puts listening into center focus.
Mary Dorman, health promotions specialist at Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health, looked down at the paper and saw one eye on an otherwise blank face.
She was at a workshop, in an exercise focused on racial identity. Participants drew a circle and then added a facial feature for every childhood social connection they had with someone from another race. “Seeing that image really struck me,” reflected Dorman. I realized I can’t see what I haven’t lived.”
Dorman shares this memory as part of a set of stories that Penn Medicine staff will read and see over the next year. It’s part of an effort not only to define what cultural humility means at Penn Medicine, but to share what it looks and feels like from every angle, with the goal of encouraging a culture of listening.
“One way I can make a difference is to look at my sphere of influence, and make sure there are more seats (voices) at the table,” Dorman recalls as part of her story that kicks off a year-long campaign. “Recently, we were reviewing a job description for a trauma-informed specialist position that required a bachelor’s degree, and I wondered if this degree was really needed for the work. After listening to the people who work closely with that position, we concluded that the experience with trauma-informed care was just as important as having the degree.”
Embracing and honoring the differences in people we come across – patients, their loved ones, colleagues – has a real impact on the clinical care and overall patient experience at Penn Medicine. In a time when diversity, equity, and inclusion have moved to center stage, particularly in health care, cultural humility is the focus of this year’s Penn Medicine Experience (PMX) campaign. At the recommendation of the Penn Medicine Experience Leadership Team (PMXLT), Cultural Humility was added in 2021 as the sixth PMX Standard (joining Compassionate, Present, Empowered, Collaborative, and Accountable). The PMX standards help to reinforce a consistent standard of service excellence across all of Penn Medicine.
Craig Loundas, associate vice president, Penn Medicine Experience, recounts that the PMXLT (comprised of clinical, operational, and patient experience leaders from across the system) charged a workgroup after the murder of George Floyd in 2020 to review the existing five PMX Standards to ensure alignment with Penn Medicine’s Action for Cultural Transformation (ACT) and its core mission to eliminate racism in all forms. The result of that workgroup’s effort includes new language, a definition, and a set of key messages about cultural humility at Penn Medicine, which are now integrated into a year-long campaign that includes more than a dozen stories like Dorman’s. This emphasis on cultural humility sets a standard to value all differences by starting from a place of humility and seeking first to listen and understand. It has also been embedded in the model Penn Medicine uses to clearly communicate behaviors that employees need to exhibit and develop as part of their job.
“We discovered that cultural humility was present in the original five standards all along. For example, you can’t truly be compassionate without applying cultural humility. With listening at its core, Cultural Humility is the standard that connects the other five,” says Stephanie Kindt, senior organizational development consultant, Penn Medicine Experience. It’s about approaching each interaction with the willingness to learn, keeping in mind we can’t know what it’s like to walk in someone else’s shoes.
Jaya Aysola, MD, MPH, executive director of Penn Medicine’s Center for Health Equity Advancement (CHEA), says, “The practice of cultural humility involves viewing every encounter, be it with a patient or colleague, as a negotiation between two worldviews, yours and theirs.” When people feel seen and heard, it builds trust and fosters inclusivity and as a result can impact equity in both the professional setting and patient care environment.
The campaign, which recently launched with Mary Dorman’s story, will continue throughout the year, and includes stories such as a physician who bonded with a patient from a different faith over a favorite religious poem, and a social worker who checked in with the same-sex parents of a newborn about what they wanted to be called, and made sure staff knew to refer to them by the correct terms.
In addition to the stories, the campaign provides tools, materials, and ideas for all entities to create and celebrate the Penn Medicine Experience in a way that’s unique to their culture. There’s also a pathway tool that offers ready-to-use activities that managers can use with their teams to reinforce the behaviors associated with each PMX Standard. Managers are also encouraged to lead their teams in discussions of cultural humility, what it means, and how it can improve patient care and their overall well-being.
Many activities and events will take place during 2022 PMX Week (October 24-29) – some systemwide and others local. Award ceremonies and other celebrations will also be held with posts and photos highlighted in various newsletters and on social media.
“The practice of being present and in the moment, to really listen and connect with one another, is foundational for all that we do at Penn Medicine,” says Dinah Schuster, communications lead for Penn Medicine Experience. “Thinking about ourselves as an academic medical institution, as a learning health system, it underscores that lifelong learning mindset to constantly be on a quest to improve processes and care for our patients.”