Impact of Ethnic Group Belief Systems on Healthcare

Throughout the world there are different ethnic groups that inhabit the continents. In every culture that has been observed there are ethnic believes each culture follows. These beliefs are defined by each culture and set certain limits for gender, children, and religious beliefs. These beliefs can cause some problems within the health-care oriented facilities. This essay will discuss different ethnic group belief systems and it will mention some ways of avoiding miscommunication between the healthcare provider and the patient.

First principle in patient care within different cultures is to treat your patient with the up-most respect. Understanding a cultures core values will help the health care provider to interact with their patient. Cultural core values are different depending what is socially acceptable in that culture. An example of core values would be activity, hard work, personal achievement, success, Individualism, efficiency, practicality, affluence, consumerism, material comfort, competition, openness, directness, and being well informed. All the core values stated previously in the last sentence are the core values of the United States. Within the United States there are multiple sub-groups of ethnic cultures, such as African American, Latino, Mexican American, Native American, and the list of different ethnic groups goes on due to immigration.

The Indian core values are individualism, family, spirituality, success, age, and adaptability. Care providing professionals should understand these core values within the Indian culture to help understand these people. People from India are very traditional in their beliefs. It is considered an insult to touch anyone from India with your left hand. Another insult would be...

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... patient dies from this culture their religion has pacific religious burial traditions. The healthcare professionals need to work with the morning family to help them prepare their family member’s body for their religious customs. Altogether healthcare providers need to be more open to the understanding of this culture. Understanding this culture will help the healthcare provider to accomplish the necessary examinations needed to help the patient become healthy again.

People from other continents tend to immigrate to the United States for more opportunity and freedom. It is the responsibility of the healthcare providers to learn about different cultures to better accomplish treatment for these cultures. A better understanding of all the different cultures will help with miscommunication within the medical field of practice with their cultural diverse patients.