MADISON, Wis. — A major change in the handbook of Madison’s three top healthcare systems. UW Health, SSM Health and Unity Point Meriter adopting a policy that fights discriminatory behavior by patients.

At UW Health, Chief Diversity Officer Shiva Bidar-Sielaff knows since 9/11, discrimination by patients has happened, even in her hospital. At that time, the abuse was largely focused on Muslim or Middle Eastern-looking healthcare professionals. Through the years, many other ethnicities, colors and communities have been targeted.

"This kind of discriminatory or bigoted requests or behavior are certainly something that makes us really sad," Bidar-Sielaff said.

She's spent nearly two years devising a plan for UW Health based on other top institutions with similar guidelines.

"We looked at the policy for Ohio State, for Penn State, for Mass General in the Boston area. So really we looked across the country and many of these policies and had a lot of actual conversations," she said.

Her new guidelines made visual in a special brochure she plans on putting in all staff break rooms. The goal: alerting her team on how to handle micro-aggressions and difficult patients. 

"That really was a quick reference guide for very busy healthcare providers and staff to really kind of learn the language that they can use and the actions they can take based on the policies," she said.

Overall, Bidar-Sielaff says she is thrilled all three hospitals are participating in the plan.

"We are making a clear statement about how much we value our providers and staff and their diversity and making it clear that we expect respectful behavior," she said.