More handpicked essays just for you.
Cultural competence in health care essay
According to Purnell (2013), “cultural competence in health care is having the knowledge, abilities, and skills to deliver care that is congruent with...
According to Purnell (2013), “cultural competence in health care is having the knowledge, abilities, and skills to deliver care that is congruent with...
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Cultural competence plays an important in medicine. It allows for smooth interaction with patients and their families. “Culture is often described as the combination of a body of knowledge, a body of belief and a body of behavior. It involves a number of elements, including personal identification, language, thoughts, communications, actions, customs, beliefs, values, and institutions that are often specific to ethnic, racial, religious, geographic, or social groups.” ("Cultural Respect", 2017) Many providers and healthcare staff still struggle with cultural competence because they don’t take the time and effort to learn about the different backgrounds that flow in and out of hospital around the country. In the case of Dr. Brent Williams, …show more content…
His interaction with the first patient is a prime example of how a provider and patient interface should go. He takes his time with the mom and makes sure she understands why the child needs the CPAP and he listens to his staff and their concerns. His interaction with the second and third patient differs from the first and it’s all wrong. His remarks about the African American family comes off as racist and his remarks about the Asian family shows that he doesn’t care about other cultures or their belief. He is showing that he doesn’t care about their culture and how they view illness. Dr. Williams poor communication skills and how he presents himself is driving patients away and causing a rift between him and his staff. He isn’t aware that not all culture believes in western medicine and some culture believe in a higher calling when it comes to dealing with sickness and illness. Dr. Williams should have asked for help from his nursing staff or other providers who is familiar with Sudanese culture or Asian culture. His disturbing behavior and lack of culture competence lead to patient not trusting and …show more content…
Without appropriate the training and education, healthcare providers and staffs are delivering medical advice that goes against people belief and cultural practices. Disparities such as race and socioeconomic plays a huge role medicine. It would be a lie to say medicine is even across the board and there are no disparities among minorities and other racial group when it comes to treatment. Dr. Williams’ scenario is an example of the unfairness that patients experience when they go to clinics and hospitals. Millions of minorities group receive subpar medical care due to race and ethnicity or economic background. “There is evidence that socioeconomic status (SES) affects individual’s health outcomes and the health care they receive. People of lower SES are more likely to have worse self-reported health, lower life expectancy, and suffer from more chronic conditions when compared with those of higher SES. They also receive fewer diagnostic tests and medications for many chronic diseases and have limited access to health care due to cost and coverage.” (Aprey, Gaglioti & Rosenbaum, 2017) Families of a different race and culture will always experience inequalities in healthcare because of disparities in the systems. The outcome for many families when they experience negative visits turns to
Racial and ethnic inequalities in healthcare results in non-white patients receiving lower quality care that White patients. Additionally, people who speak limited English encounter more communication issues with doctors and nurses that people whose primary language is English. (AHRQ, 2011). Consequently, as people with chronic conditions utilize more healthcare services, they are more likely to complain of issues with the doctor-patient relationship. They feel as though they are not able to participate in their care, their doctors do not allow them to contribute to their medical decisions and they feel like doctors are not disclosing all information related to care. People who encounter this type of cultural ignorance become dissatisfied with their treatment and overall healthcare experience and are at high risk for negative
Douglas, Rosenkoetter, Pacquiao, Callister, Hattar-Pollara, Lauderdale, Milstead, Nardi, & Purnell (2014) outline ten guidelines for implementing culturally competent care; knowledge of cultures, education and training in culturally competent care, critical reflection, cross-cultural communication, culturally competent practice, cultural competence in health care systems and organizations, patient advocacy and empowerment, multicultural workforce, cross-cultural leadership, and evidence-based practice and research. One specific suggestion I will incorporate is to engage in critical reflection. This is mentioned both by Douglas, et al. (2014) and Trentham, et al. (2007) as an important part of cultural competency. I will do this by looking at my own culture, beliefs, and values and examining how they affect my actions. I will use this information to better inform my day to day practice when working with patients with a different culture than my
These differences in origin accounts for diversity in socio-cultural backgrounds and nurses must develop the knowledge and the skills to engage patients from different cultures and to understand the beliefs and the values of those cultures (Jarvis, 2012). If healthcare professionals focus only on a narrowly defined biomedical approach to the treatment of disease, they will often misunderstand their patients, miss valuable diagnostic cues, and experience higher rates of patient noncompliance with therapies. Thus, it is important for a nurse to know what sociocultural background a patient is coming from in order to deliver safe an effective
Cultural competency is a very significant necessity in health care today and the lack of it in leadership and in the health workforce, is quite pressing. The lack of cultural competency can bring about dire consequences such as racial and ethnic disparities in health care. It may not be the sole reason for these disparities, but it certainly places a significant role. A patient and health care provider relationship is very significant and can make or break the quality of care that is given. The lack of cultural competency leads to poor communication which then leads to those of diverse backgrounds to feel either unheard or just plain misunderstood. As an East African
In conclusion, It it is very necessary that our health care officials try harder to gain trust with minorities so that medicine can be focused more on equality. We all know that for decades our country was very diverse and everyone was treated differently. Although things have changed and it is sometimes important to preserve our past, past actions should not still be carried out. Even today, racism still occurs and it hard for minorities to feel safe when visiting hospitals and doctor’s offices. Minorities should be given equal medical opportunities, be given the honest truth on their diagnosis and treatments and most importantly be given some sort of health care so they can be treated.
When working in a medical/health related field one would be able to see countless people and odd things. Some medical procedures that might seem small to one person may be complicated or even taboo to another person’s beliefs. That is why as nurses, one should be culturally competent. (Newman Giger & Davidhizar, 2008) says, “to be culturally competent one must be able to deliver meaningful care to a patient
Cultural Competence is important for many reasons. First, it can help develop culturally sensitive practices which can in turn help reduce barriers that affect treatment in health care settings. Second, it can help build understanding, which is critical in competence, in order wards knowing whom the person recognizes as a health care professional and whom they views as traditional healer, can aid the development of trust and improve the individual’s investment and participation in treatment. Third, our population in the United States is not only growing quickly but also changing, cultural competence will allow us as educators and healthcare workers keep up wi...
In recent discussions of health care disparities, a controversial issue has been whether racism is the cause of health care disparities or not. On one hand, some argue that racism is a serious problem in the health care system. From this perspective, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) states that there is a big gap between the health care quality received by minorities, and the quality of health care received by non-minorities, and the reason is due to racism. On the other hand, however, others argue that health care disparities are not due to racism. In the words of Sally Satel, one of this view’s main proponents, “White and black patients, on average don’t even visit the same population of physicians” (Satel 1), hence this reduces the chances of racism being the cause of health care disparities. According to this view, racism is not a serious problem in the health care system. In sum, then, the issue is whether racism is a major cause of health care disparities as the Institute of Medicine argues or racism is not really an issue in the health care system as suggested by Sally Satel.
The disparities in the healthcare system contribute to the overall health status disparities that affect ethnic and racial minorities. The sources of ethnic and racial healthcare disparities include cultural barriers, geography differences, or healthcare provider stereotyping. In addition, difficulties in communication between health care providers and patients, lack of access to healthcare providers, and lack of access to adequate health care coverage
..., p.261) With this knowledge of the culture that one works in, the health care worker can better see the differences with the cultures of the patients that they are taking care of. Hopefully this understanding will lead to less conflict and better healing.
There is a lack of conceptual clarity with cultural competence in the field and the research community. Cultural competence is seen as encompassing only racial and ethnic differences, and omitting other population groups who are ethnically and racially similar to providers, but are stigmatized or discriminated against, who are different in other identities, and have some differences in their health care needs that have resulted in health disparities. (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality,
Healthcare disparities are when there are inequalities or differences of the conditions of health and the quality of care that is received among specific groups of people such as African Americans, Caucasians, Asians, or Hispanics. Not only does it occur between racial and ethnic groups, health disparities can happen between males and females as well. Minorities have the worst healthcare outcomes, higher death rates, and are more prone to terminal diseases. For African American men and women, some of the most common health disparities are diabetes, cancer, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and HIV infections. Some factors that can contribute to disparities are healthcare access, transportation, specialist referrals, and non-effective communication with patients. There is also much racism that still occurs today, which can be another reason African Americans may be mistreated with their healthcare. “Although both black and white patients tended not to endorse the existence of racism in the medical system, African Americans patients were more likely to perceive racism” (Laveist, Nickerson, Bowie, 2000). Over the years, the health care system has made improvements but some Americans, such as African Americans, are still being treating unequally when wanting the same care they desire as everyone else.
According to Andrews & Boyle (2016), the first step is for the nurse to do a self-assessment of themselves in order to identify their beliefs toward people with different backgrounds, which will provide clarification of possible unknown behaviors. The second step is to set a goal between the patient and those involved with the patient’s care. Step three involves developing a care plan that will include all cultural factors involving the patients care. Step four is implementation of the care plan by the healthcare team and those involved with the patient’s care. Step five is the last step and evaluates the care plan to make sure that the quality of care is acceptable and is based off scientific evidence and best practices. If there are any changes or adjustments that need to be made with the patient’s care, modification will be done to the care plan and these steps should be repeated (Andrews & Boyle,
Kodjo, C. (2009, February,2009). Cultural competence in clinician communication [Pediatr Rev]. Pub Med Central, 30(2), 57-64. doi:10.1542/pir.30-2-57
Cultural competence in health care provision refers to the capacity of health care systems to offer good care to patients and accommodate employees, who have diverse beliefs, behaviors, and values to meet their cultural, linguistic, and social needs. It comprises of policies, attitudes, and behaviors that integrate to form a system that can operate efficiently in cross cultural conditions. Healthcare organizations look at cultural competence from two major viewpoints. Firstly, it is a tool to enhance patient care from all backgrounds, social groups, languages, religions, and beliefs. Secondly, it is a tool that strategically attracts potential clients to their organizations and, hence, expands