Respecting future patients

At Laney College and the neighboring Peralta colleges, many students are considering a career in healthcare. While fulfilling such prerequisites as chemistry, nutrition, and biology courses in order to apply for their healthcare program of choice, it is sometimes easy to forget a key component: patient care.

In fall of 2009, Rebecca Bailey, a physiology and anatomy professor at Laney College, along with student Tev Monnin, began the Respectful Care Workshops. Bailey explained, "Tev had some great ideas about health care, but no forum at Laney in which to discuss them."

The foundation of the workshops is to ask, "How will we, as future health care workers, provide respectful care to all people? How can we contribute to positive change in our health care system?" as stated on the Respectful Care homepage. "It starts with the premise that all people deserve health care and to be treated with respect as they participate in their own care," Bailey said.

Past topics of workshops have included pregnancy and childbirth, transgender and gender non-conforming issues, and special needs populations. The most recent workshop, held Oct. 26, discussed women's reproductive health and was facilitated by Marit Knutson.

Knutson, a physiology student, organized a workshop "to discuss access to abortion care since, as healthcare providers, we're going to be entering a climate in which the pendulum is swinging back to pre-Roe v Wade times.

"Talking about abortion and issues specific to women's reproductive health care is essential—how else will we be able to be good patient advocates and allies for women in all stages of life without understanding the unique healthcare needs of women?"

Bailey remains the Respectful Care Workshop organizer, but the workshops are all student-facilitated. Many of the topics can be controversial and sensitive. "The purpose of the Respectful Care Workshops is to provide a place for future health care workers to discuss issues relevant to patient care," Bailey said.

Two workshop will be held this month: Care of Marginalized Communities: Sex Workers, from 1 p.m.-2 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 16, in B207; and Noncompliance with Behavioral Changes Needed for Healing, from 1 p.m.-2 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 28, in B207. For details, email Rebecca Bailey at rbailey(at)peralta(dot)edu or visit the Respectful Care Workshop website, http://www.laney.edu/wp/respectful_care.