A Taste of Diversity

A cohesive team ? one that is respectful of each other's differences and similarities, as well as their patients' diversities ? requires communication and sharing.

Debbie Goodman, RN, BSN, a nurse clinician 3 and a team leader at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, sought to foster tolerance and acceptance among her colleagues on a psychiatric unit at the Baltimore facility. She has done so through monthly luncheon events presented by nurses from other parts of the world.

"We're always trying to raise awareness of patients' cultural diversities, but I thought it's probably even more important to understand the people we work beside on a daily basis," says Goodman, who noticed the ethnic makeup of her unit was changing.

Hopkins has 13% foreign-educated nurses at the bedside compared with 9% of nurses in the 95 other hospitals who participate in the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators, says Karen Haller, RN, PhD, FAAN, vice president for nursing and patient care services at Hopkins.

Goodman, serving as the unit's social committee chairman, asked her colleagues to share information with each other about their home countries, the role of nursing there, and some of the foods of their homelands.

A taste of India
In February, Padmini Paul, RN, CRNP, MSN, a clinical nurse specialist, crafted a map, showing where she was born and raised in India, and posted it on the unit's bulletin board. She also prepared three dishes ? chicken curry and rice, string beans, and shrimp ? for about 40 nursing, physician, and ancillary support colleagues at the hospital on the day and evening shifts. While they ate, they peppered Paul with questions about her homeland, where she was a nurse for 10 years.

"I was trained in one of the best hospitals in Asia," Paul says. "The hospital was set up just like Hopkins. I didn't find any difference in nursing."

Paul said residents, who lived on the Indian hospital's campus, spent more time counseling patients and families in the evening than they do in the U.S.

Paul was pleased with how the event turned out. "I enjoyed the day and had a good time cooking, and everybody liked the food," Paul says. "If they understand me and my upbringing, we will be able to work together better as a team."

Nuggets from Nigeria
Staff nurse Ronke Said, RN, BSC, brought in a map of Nigeria and information about the country and its language. She has lived in the U.S. for 25 years but has not lost her West African culinary skills. She cooked up a traditional feast of jollof rice and chicken, plantains, and puff-puff, a deep-fried doughnut-like dessert.

"They loved it and can't stop talking about it," Said says.

Said told colleagues she entered nursing as a second career after 12 years in the computer and telecommunications industry. She also told them how she plans to return to school to study nursing informatics at the master's level. "I think it was beneficial to the unit, because when people understand you and your background, it makes for a more cohesive unit," Said says. Learning about Uganda

William Mpalanyi, LPN, originally from Uganda, cooked up matooke, a plantain dish. Preparation required peeling the fruit, wrapping and steaming it in plantain leaves, and serving it with a sauce that included ground nuts, fish, beef, chicken, and peas.

Dressed in a white tunic from his native country, Mpalanyi shared information about Uganda's culture, history, flag, native animals, and the country's motto, "For God and my country." Mpalanyi moved to the U.S. about six years ago and became a nurse, fulfilling a lifetime dream to work in health care. He joined Hopkins in 2006.

Made in Maine
The luncheons proved so successful, Goodman extended invitations to nurses born in other parts of the U.S.

Kathryn Prescott, RN, a native of Maine, brought in typical foods served at a summer get-together ? a haddock-based chowder and Maine blueberry cake ? for staff to sample.

"I expected to take a piece of cake home to my husband, but there was none left," Prescott says.

Prescott taught coworkers the Maine pronunciation of the soup she served ? "chow-dah" ? and shared her experiences of growing up along Maine's southern coast.

Goodman now has opened the events to other staff members on the unit and hopes the sessions expand to other units. "Everybody is excited about this," Goodman says. "It's a way to help keep the morale up and to keep people interested in their surroundings."

Debra Anscombe Wood, RN, is a freelance writer.

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