Novato, CA-August 22, 2006: How many times have you wondered how a patient's cultural background would affect his or her response to your plan of care? Culture can be a powerful influence on human behavior in the face of illness and other life transitions. As clinicians, we have long been in need of a handy resource to assist us in understanding the many cultural issues affecting the care we provide to very diverse populations. That gap has been filled with the revised and expanded edition of the book, Culture & Clinical Care, winner of a Book of the Year Award from the American Journal of Nursing. Dr. Sue Dibble, Research Services Director at Catalyst Systems, an evidence-based healthcare consulting firm, and a professor at the Institute for Health & Aging at UC San Francisco, co-authored/edited this comprehensive book, which details the unique characteristics of 35 cultural groups.

Each chapter in this highly organized, reader-friendly resource addresses a different cultural group and assists clinicians to identify potential issues that should be considered in a plan of care. Within each culture, issues related to health and illness, cultural/ethnic identity, verbal and non-verbal communication, spiritual/religious beliefs and practices, birth and death rituals, family relationships, developmental and sexual issues, food preferences, and more, are identified. Nearly all of the 55 contributors to the book are members of the cultural group they write about in their respective chapters.

Because there is tremendous variation within any cultural group, the editors emphasize that this book is not intended to be used as a cookbook, but rather as a practical guide to alert the clinician to potentially problematic areas that might affect health care. They also stress that before we can build trusting relationships as healthcare providers, we must first acknowledge our own beliefs and biases so that we don't inadvertently communicate them to patients and families.

You may order copies of Culture & Clinical Care for your staff online directly from the publisher at http://nurseweb.ucsf.edu/public/npress/catalog.htm

Nurse-owned and operated, Catalyst Systems has provided hospitals and other healthcare organizations across the nation with its leading EVALISYS^® Patient Classification System and objective workload studies for more than 20 years. Catalyst’s staff are recognized experts in evidence-based staffing methods, research, legislative and policy issues, and health care leadership. For more information on Catalyst, please email info@catsys.com, call 415-893-7600 or visit the website at www.catsys.com.