Wir überwinden Grenzen

Medical Center - University of Freiburg commits to equal opportunities and diversity and flies the rainbow flag / Diversity Day on 31 May / Diversity in practice: New project on professional language mediation in patient care

German Diversity Day will take place for the tenth time on May 31, 2022. The Medical Center - University of Freiburg is taking this as an opportunity to make a clear commitment to equal opportunities and diversity. "There is incredible diversity among our employees and patients and this is also one of our strengths," says Prof. Dr. Frederik Wenz, Chief Medical Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Medical Center - University of Freiburg. "We want to do justice to this diversity and offer people with different origins, languages, genders, religious affiliations, physical and mental abilities and other individual characteristics an appreciative environment." The rainbow flag will be raised in front of the hospital to mark Diversity Day. In addition, the Board of Directors of the hospital will soon sign the Diversity Charter, a voluntary commitment for employers to promote equal opportunities in companies.

Diversity is part and parcel of the University Hospital: around 15,000 employees from a total of 106 nations work at the hospital. 70 percent of employees are women. By signing the Diversity Charter, the Medical Center - University of Freiburg has committed itself to recognizing diversity as a social normality and to creating a non-discriminatory working environment and patient care. "The idea of diversity is already being put into practice in many areas of the Medical Center," says Angelika Zimmer, Equal Opportunities Officer at the Medical Center - University of Freiburg. "However, a special round table on equal opportunities and diversity has also been set up to help identify the need for change and work with the various stakeholders to provide impetus for practice."

Diversity in practice: dealing sensitively with language barriers in patient care

An increasing number of patients at the University Hospital predominantly speak a language other than German. Any language barriers can make treatment more difficult: Mutual understanding and trusting communication are crucial for many treatment steps, such as taking a medical history or providing information before procedures. Experts from the Center for Pediatrics - University of Freiburg Medical Center have now developed the online advanced training course DolMATCH in cooperation with the City of Freiburg's interpreter pool and linguists from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. The training course for medical professionals aims to raise participants' awareness of language barriers and the special features associated with them.

"Although interpreters can often help, conversations 'in threes' differ significantly from those 'in twos'," explains PD Dr. Thorsten Langer, Head of the Social Pediatrics Center at the Center for Pediatrics - University of Freiburg. "In addition, language barriers are often not recognizable at first glance. People who speak little German are often mistakenly assumed to have no questions." The online advanced training course therefore provides healthcare professionals with strategies for recognizing language barriers in patients, selecting suitable translation services and finding suitable interpreters.

Picture caption:
Image 1 and 2: The Medical Center - University of Freiburg has raised the rainbow flag in recognition of equal opportunities and diversity.