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Appreciating religious diversity enhances employee and patient experience at Penn State Health

Religious diversity recognizes that significant differences in religious beliefs and practices exist throughout the world. Taking a look at the landscape of religion composition, more than 84% of the world’s population identifies with a religion. Of those, 31% identify as Christian, 25% as Muslim, 15.6% as unaffiliated and 15.2% as Hindu. In North America, the two largest religious populations are Christian (74.6%) and unaffiliated (19.2%).

Although Penn State Health does not collect information on the different religious beliefs and practices of its workforce, our commitment to being respectful of religious diversity in the workplace is driven by federal law. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employers from discriminating against an employee based on their “sincerely held religious, ethical and moral beliefs or practices.” These religious observances or practices may include attending worship services, prayer, wearing religious clothing and adhering to certain dietary rules.

The law also provides that employers take reasonable steps to accommodate an employee’s religious practices. Penn State Health established HR Policy 88 to outline the process for requesting such an accommodation – for example, when an employee requests time away from work or responsibilities to participate in religious observances.

The health system’s Office for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion created a religious observance document to detail significant religious observances throughout the year so employees can avoid mandatory meetings or events, if possible. Employees will soon be able to load the dates of these religious observances to their Outlook calendar to make it easier to know when they take place.

The health system has a better understanding of the different religions represented in our patient population based on whether a patient chooses to identify their religion or faith. Based on available information for Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, we know that our patients represent more than 70 religions and faiths. As we learn more about the religions represented within our patient population, we increase awareness of what religious diversity means for quality and safe patient care. For example, we previously shared that for the month of Ramadan, which will take place from March 10 to April 9, 2024, individuals who identify as Muslim do not eat or drink from dawn until sunset and therefore require meal accommodations.

With different religions and faiths come varying approaches and practices for end of life care that clinicians and care providers must be aware of. For example, for the Jewish and Islamic communities, suicide, assisted suicide and euthanasia are not allowed. Within Judaism, withdrawal of care that has already been started is usually not allowed in their faith, whereas for the Islamic community, do not resuscitate orders are permitted under specific circumstances. For the Catholic community, it is considered necessary ordinary care to provide nutrition and hydration to a patient who is in persistent vegetative state, but euthanasia is not permitted.

Understanding these differences is critical to providing our patients with a quality experience. To learn more, employees may explore the resources on CultureVision, an online tool provided by the health system’s diversity office. A series on end-of-life care for diverse patients was added recently and is available in 15-minute videos.

Upcoming events

Diversity Grand Rounds: End-of-life considerations

  • Tuesday, Sept. 12
  • Noon–1:15 p.m.
  • Franciscan Rooms A&B (2nd floor)
  • MS Teams
    • Meeting ID: 216 588 389 611
      • Passcode: 9DreAB
    • Call in +1 267-405-6044
      • ID: 872 106 194#
  • A panel of faith representatives from the Islamic, United Church of Christ, Catholic and Jewish communities will talk about their faith traditions and teachings for end of life. Spearheaded by St. Joseph Medical Center’s Diversity Council representative Alex Cirko

Inclusion Academy – Culturally Responsive Care: Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services Standards and the Role They Play in Addressing Health Disparities

  • Thursday, Sept. 21
  • Noon–1 p.m.

Cultivating Health Empowerment: Transforming Diverse Lives for Optimal Health: Telehealth: A Tool to Advance Care for Diverse Populations

  • Thursday, Sept. 21
  • 7­–8:15 p.m.

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