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Importance of advocacy in patient care
Challenges in primary health care
Cultural competence at the forefront of healthcare
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Recommended: Importance of advocacy in patient care
Dr. Amanda Swain practices primary care at Student Health Services at the University of Pennsylvania. Swain’s exposure to the medical world began at a young age; she spent extended periods of her childhood in the hospital throughout her father’s illness. She went to Brandeis University with the intention of studying anthropology and archeology. However, after reflecting on her previous experiences in the hospital with her father and briefly shadowing a doctor, Swain ultimately decided to pursue medicine. She started the pre-medical track as a sophomore and was admitted to an early acceptance medical school program later in her college career. In the beginning of her medical training, Swain chose to pursue family medicine. This was the medical model she was most familiar with; she grew up in a small town on Long Island where the entire community went to the same doctor. Swain saw this doctor, whom she referred to by first name, from birth to early adulthood for all of her medical needs. Her positive experience with this doctor plus her familiarity with the field of family medicine ultimately influenced her choice of specialization. Swain graduated from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in 2002 and completed her residency in family practice at Thomas Jefferson University. Following her training, Swain accepted an offer to work as a primary care practitioner at the University of Pennsylvania’s Student Health Services. Swain’s background in family medicine makes her an ideal fit for her role as a healer; she is personable, knowledgeable, and able to handle the myriad of issues her patients present. Dr. Amanda Swain exemplifies the qualities of a biomedical healer.
First, Dr. Swain epitomizes a model biomedical healer because she genui...
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References
(American Psychological Association Documentation and Format)
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Note: I have read and agree to Penn’s code of academic integrity.
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
Goode, T. D., Dunne, M. C., & Bronheim, S. M. (2006). The evidence base for cultural and linguisitc competence in healthcare. The Commonweatlh Fund , 1-46.
Going to a different country or area of the world can open up anybody’s eyes to see that culture makes a huge impact on the understanding and practices of healthcare that seem to be so common to other areas of the world. When a person lives in one country their whole life, that person may not realize how different the life they live is from someone in a foreign country. If a person is going to receive treatment from someone with a different cultural background, they should be expected to get treatment to respects their own culture. Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences having such a diverse variety of students has their own cultural competency definition that states “effectively and comfortably communicate across cultures with patients of differing backgrounds, taking into account aspects of trust in order to adopt mutually acceptable objectives and measures”. In the book Dancing Skeletons: Life and Death in West Africa by Katherine Dettwyler, the issue of culture and healthcare are greatly prevalent. Katherine Dettwyler herself goes to West Africa as an anthropologist and her horizons are broadened when during her research she comes in contact with how much culture has an impact on healthcare and everyday life.
William, W. D. (2004). Culture and the risk of disease. British Medical Bulletin, 69, 21-31. doi: 10.1093/bmb/ldh020
Cultural competence has to do with one’s culture. Culture affects among other factors, how children are raised, how families communicate, what is considered normal or abnormal, ways of coping with issues, the way we dress, when and where we seek medical treatment, and so forth. I should know because I come from a very cultural home where it is considered bad to talk to a male doctor about anything gynecological.
Maternal & Child Health Journal, 8(3), 107-110. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=14089739&site=ehost-live.
..., 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.
Cultural competence is a skill essential to acquire for healthcare providers, especially nurses. Cooperating effectively and understanding individuals with different backgrounds and traditions enhances the quality of health care provided by hospitals and other medical facilities. One of the many cultures that nurses and other health care providers encounter is the American Indian or Native American culture. There are hundreds of different American Indian Tribes, but their beliefs and values only differ slightly. The culture itself embodies nature.
Bentancourt et al. (2005) allows asserts that there are three distinctive reasons why cultural competency is so very important for the American healthcare system. American is composed of a very diverse population, which mean healthcare providers will continual be exposed to treating individuals from various backgrounds and from various cultures; their beliefs regarding their health or healthcare may range widely. When patients have a deficiency in the English language, proper healthcare delivery becomes increasingly more difficult as they will present symptoms in the syntax of their culture and their first language. Also, research shows the communication between the patient and their provider directly correlates to their satisfaction as well as their responsiveness or willingness to follow the health provider medical instructions; this ultimately affects the patient’s health outcome (Bentancourt et al., 2005). It’s fair to say that a successful health outcome is also contingent upon the interaction of the health provider and patient. Reports generated by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) – “Crossing the Quality Chasm and Unequal Treatment, confirms that cultural competence that focuses on the care of patient through
As nurses entering the medical field understanding the culture of our patients is crucial to proper care. Each culture has their own set of beliefs and values that are shared among groups of people which influences personality, language, lifestyles, house hold, level modesty, social standings, foods, health treatment and identity. Culture affects how people view health and illness; dictating when, where and what type of medical treatment they will receive and who will be their care provider.
The purpose of this paper is to educate the advance practice nurse (APN) about Navajo culture as well as how to effectively communicate holistic care to the Navajo Indian population. Recently while at work, Tara, who works in the registration department, began discussing alternative treatments for medical issues while referring to her father as a healer. Fascinated, I engaged her in conversation to assist in educating myself about her interesting culture.
In addition, research for this project enabled me to identify five essential elements for acquiring cross cultural competency which I will use as guidelines in conflict resolution in my future occupation:
Lipson, J.G. & Dubble, S.L. (Eds). (2007). Culture & clinical care. San Francisco, California: The Regents, University of California.
Understanding quality measurement is essential in improving quality. Teams need to be able to understand whether the changes being made are actually leading to improved care and improved outcomes. For data to have an impact on an improvement initiative, providers and staff must understand it, trust it, and use it. Health care organization must understand the measurement of quality provided by the Institute of Medicine (patient outcomes, patient satisfaction, compliance, efficiency, safe, timely, patient centered, and equitable. An organization cannot improve its performance if it does not know how it is performing. Measuring quality improvements is essential as it reflects the quality of care given by the providers and that by comparing performance
Miller, Leininger, Leuning, Pacquiao, Andrews, and Ludwig-Beyer, (2008) support that the skill of cultural competency in nursing is the ability to gather relevant cultural data on the presenting problem of the patient. This cultural assessment is defined as a "...