Cultural Competency - Muslim Patient Care Committee (MPCC)
The Muslim Patient Care Committee was established in the fall of 2000 after the Muslim Health Association approached the University of Michigan Health System for support with projects that could enable these two organizations to collaborate in providing quality, culturally competent health care that addresses the unique needs of Muslims in our increasingly diverse community.
Role:
As hosts to this diverse community, UMHS is presented with both a challenge and an opportunity. As health care providers, it is mutually beneficial for us to rise to the challenge of providing quality health care that addresses the religious needs and customs of the Islamic community. This comes with the opportunity for us to be a leader in providing comprehensive care to multicultural populations.
Mission:
To develop programs within the University of Michigan Health System that will enhance the culturally competent care received by Muslim patients and meet the religious needs and customs of Muslims.
Demographics:
In the past few decades, Islam has become the fastest growing religion in the United States. Demographers estimate that over eight million Muslims live in the U.S. making them the second largest religious community in the country. Michigan serves as the home of one of the oldest Muslim communities in the nation estimated at over half a million. Ann Arbor itself has several thousand Muslims.
Highlights of Accomplishments (2001-2006):
- Write a "Same Gender Care" policy with the Ob/Gyn department and translate into Arabic
- Establish and maintain Friday prayer room
- Implement use of a "Knock - Await response" door sign with the Ob/Gyn department
- Create "End-of-Life Care Issues" procedures
- Develop Muslim patient brochure
Accomplishments (2001-2006):
- Create "End-of-Life Care Issues" procedures document
- Write a "Same Gender Care" policy with the Ob/Gyn department and translate into Arabic
- Develop Islamic volunteer service program
- Develop Muslim Patient Care Committee web page
- Develop weblink to "End-of-Life Care Issues" procedures document
- Establish Friday prayer room
- Implement use of a "Knock - Await response" door sign with the Ob/Gyn department
- Address dietary needs of patients, families, and staff
- Assess need for Muslim patient gown
- Distribute Muslim patient brochure
- Provide Islamic in-service trainings for staff
- Revisit “Same Gender Care” policy for implementation
- Seek vendor to provide Muslim-friendly patient gowns
- Maintain distribution of the Muslim patient brochure (View in PDF Page 1, Page 2)
- Maintain Islamic volunteer service program
- Sustain Friday prayer room
- Evaluate Islamic volunteer service program
- Evaluate use of “Knock - Await response" door sign
- Readdress dietary needs of patients, families, and staffExpand MPCC membership
- Extend use of a "Knock - Await response" door sign
Muslim Patient Care Committee Members:
- Desiree Blake, Educational Nurse Specialist, Educational Services for Nursing
- Nabil Khalidi, Associate Director of Inpatient Pharmacy Services and Clinical Associate Professor of Pharmacy
- George Lambrides, Chaplain, Pastoral Care
- Layla Mohammed, Clinical Instructor and Lecturer for Pediatrics-Ambulatory Care Program
Chair of Dietary Subcommittee for MPCC - Samya Nasr, Associate Professor and Program Director, Pediatrics-Pulmonary Medicine
- Jacqueline Voigt (Chair), Program Manager, Cultural Competency Program, PMCH
Islamic Way of Life:
The Muslim community is unique in many ways. It extends across a rich mix of cultures and languages that is held together by the common thread of the Islamic faith. The Islamic way of life permeates almost all aspects of life for a Muslim. It is this comprehensiveness of religious practice that is often not well understood by those seeking to provide services to the Muslim population.
For example, personnel may be unaware of Islam's standards of modesty in dress and interpersonal interactions, its dietary restrictions, or its daily religious practices. In addition, Islam prescribes certain practices at such occasions as death, birth and when someone is terminally ill that are of prime spiritual importance to Muslim patients and their families.
Web Links:
Caring for a Dying or Deceased Muslim Patient
Cultural Competency Program, Generalizations Regarding Muslim Patients
Council on American Islamic Relations: Putting Faith into Action
