Page 163 - Hospital Authority Convention 2017
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Symposiums



                S13.3     Cultural Diversity                                        14:30  Convention Hall B

               We All Come from Somewhere – Our Experience with Cultural Diversity
               Ong KL
               Department of Accident and Emergency, Tuen Mun Hospital and Pok Oi Hospital, Hong Kong              HOSPITAL AUTHORITY CONVENTION 2017
               Based on the data from 2011 Population Census, people of ethnic minority (EM) constituted 6.4% of Hong Kong’s population.
               Limited proficiency in local languages, lower educational level or sometimes even illiteracy together with different cultural
               beliefs and customs inevitably affect their integration to the community, health maintenance, as well as appropriate utilisation
               of healthcare services.

               Although EM patients accounts for only a small fraction of the overall attendance and admission to the public hospitals in
               Hong Kong, certain hospitals have higher percentage of EM patients as people of ethnic minority tend to cluster in certain
               geographical regions. The Accident and Emergency Department (AED) of Pok Oi Hospital (POH) and Tuen Mun Hospital (TMH)
               have been handling a proportionately high percentage of EM patients. In 2013/14, about 8% of overall POH AED attendance
               was from EM patients whose mother language is neither Chinese nor English, while the figure for TMH AED was 3%.
               These groups of patients pose many challenges to our frontline healthcare workers, especially the barriers in communication
               as a significant proportion speak neither Chinese nor English.  Communication barriers pose potential risks and need to be
               addressed. The differences in cultural and religion background require much effort for both patients and our healthcare
               workers to understand and overcome.  One’s culture and religion is often the foundation of one’s behaviour and concern;
               and it may lead to failure of comprehending and managing the differences of another culture, leading to frustrations and
               misunderstandings between different parties.  Understanding these differences and taking measures to overcome them will
               help us in our provision of healthcare services to these EM patients.

               It is important to address these potential issues when managing EM patients. With our initiatives, we hope to narrow the gap
               between different parties.                                                                          Wednesday, 17 May
























































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