Photo by James P. Rathmell, MD

When the Special Pathogens ICU admitted a patient who did not speak English, care team members collaborated with Palliative Care nurse practitioners and Spiritual Care Services to provide culturally-sensitive care. This included: 

  • Engaging the services of an Imam who offered prayer 
  • Playing readings from the Quran and music in the patient’s native language via an iPad 
  • Ensuring the patient had clean linens in accordance with religious traditions 
  • Obtaining holy water from the family
  • Turning the patient to the right to face Mecca, the holiest city in Islam, at an important time 
  • Remarkably, the patient recovered and was discharged home. The family attributes the recovery not only to the clinical care, but also to the nurses’ delivery of culturally, spiritually and socially sensitive care. 

Nursing staff involved included Lisa Comis, BSN, RN, CCRN-CSC, Christina Moore, BSN, RN, and Dana Pallotta, MSN, RN, CNP, and Andris Soble, BSN, RN, CCRN-CSC, of the Special Pathogens ICU; and Callie Siegert, MSN, AGNP-C, Jon Jehle, MSN, RN, CNP, and Natasha Lever, MSN, RN, CNP, of the Palliative Care Service. 

Why it’s Magnet

Magnet designation requires an example of a nurse or group of nurses delivering culturally and socially sensitive care as part of the Structural Empowerment (SE11) component of the Magnet model. We meet this standard with the compassionate care we provide every day, including this example from the Special Pathogens ICU and so many others throughout the organization.

It’s who we are.