The purpose of the evaluation was to: 

* Assess whether the project contributed to improving communication between health personnel and patients with non-Danish ethnic backgrounds

 * Assess the organization of the project in relation to giving inputs for a future national implementation

Ethnic minority patients.

Mediators, primarily nurses, had a number of functions, including the following: 

• Teaching other personnel about inter-cultural communication.
•  Making personnel aware of their own cultural habits and practices.
•  Introducing a more fine-grained concept of culture and refining personnel’s perception of ethnicity and culture.
•  Informing and helping sections in developing a better practice of using interpreters
  

This project has helped gather valuable experiences in relation to future work with ethnic minorities. Especially experiences with organizational matters are important, even though the short length of the project means that these experiences cannot directly be continued. In the participating hospitals there is growing awareness that it is necessary to focus especially on minority patients. Furthermore, the project has shown that health personnel have an interest in support in their work with such patients. The majority of the participating health workers have stated in the evaluation that they think the project has had a positive impact for their work.

The Recommendations include the following: 

• A higher degree of flexibility and accessibility when a need for a cultural mediator arises.
•  Mediators should be in continuous contact with hospital sections so that personnel can see the relevance of cultural mediators.
•  The practice should have more resources in early phases such that mediators can be made visible.

Danish National Board of Health.