Josepha Campinha-Bacote, who comes from a mixed-cultural background, works to promote cultural competence in the health care industry.
"A young nurse ran up to me while I was in [consultation], frantic because a patient had ripped out his eyeballs, asking me if his enucleation was cultural, or if the patient was just psycho," she said. "I told her that perhaps both spiritual and cultural issues were at work in that one," she added, laughing.
Sponsored by the Nursing School, Campinha-Bacote enlightened an audience of about 50 yesterday afternoon with a presentation on "Spirituality, Culture, Religion and the Delivery of Culturally Appropriate Health Care."
"People don't care how much you know, until they first know how much you care," she said.
As the president and founder of Transcultural CARE Associates -- a consultation service that focuses on issues in transcultural health care -- Campinha-Bacote enthusiastically promotes this frequently overlooked topic.
"Cultural awareness is self-examination of one's own prejudices and biases ... awareness of racism in health care delivery and an in-depth exploration of one's own cultural and ethnic background," Campinha-Bacote said. "Everyone has a culture, not only those who look like they do."
When a patient's culture can't be defined, it often gets overlooked, which can become problematic in diagnosis and patient-doctor relations.
Campinha-Bacote added that this happens frequently in culturally unidentifiable people.
"Who knows, he might be Appalachian and believe in Vicks VapoRub," she said. "Everyone has something."
Retired Nursing professor Rosalyn Watts introduced "Dr. Josi" as the "cr?me de la cr?me of educators and researchers in the field."
The audience confirmed this.
Since attendance was required for Nursing graduate student Kim Karli, she said she entered the room thinking, "Oh gosh, another lecture," but by the end, she was blown away.
"She is absolutely wonderful and inspiring, and she kept my full interest," Karli said.
Fellow Nursing graduate student Katherine Legg agreed.
"It was really motivating -- she makes you realize how important it is to consider cultural awareness in the care that you give," Legg said.
This is vital for hospitals wanting to achieve "magnet status" -- a recognition of high-caliber nursing staffs -- which is what prompted Truc Vo, nurse at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, to attend.
"Especially here in West Philadelphia," she said, "knowledge of diversity is needed to promote excellent health care."
