This paper seeks to show the inter-relationship of bio- medical professionals such as doctors and nurses in comparison with medical anthropologists and try to show their relevancy in the healthcare system and their collaboration in inter-professionalism. Medical anthropology is an advancing sub-discipline of anthropology. Medical anthropology is intended to provide a framework, which should enable students to identify and analyze social, cultural, behavioural and environmental factors in relation to health and disease/illness in any given society. Medical anthropologists are not medics or professional doctors but they are usually found within the health care system since they provide an insightful role of involving cultural aspects in diagnosis and treatment of diseases in the healthcare system. This is a perfect and unique example of inter-professionalism in the healthcare system.
In all human societies, beliefs and practises relating to illness are central features of cultural life. Although beliefs and practises strongly influence people’s health it is important to note that culture is not the only factor that influences health.
Clinically applied anthropologists are closely involved with healthcare and patient care as members of the healthcare system. They work with physicians, counsellors, lab technicians and many other paramedical personnel. They are solely involved with raising awareness to important cultural factors in health, some of them even practise medicine. This is multi-disciplinary inter-professionalism in itself.
The other medical anthropologists take a macro-approach and focus on political and economic equality which results to poverty and eventually has an effect on disease. An example of such an anthropolo...
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...o regard inter-professionalism in order to improve the health sector in any given society.
HEALTH SYSTEMS AS PART OF CULTURAL SYSTEMS
Arthur Kleiman (1980), in the book “Patients and Healers in the context of culture” defines cultural systems as a coherent whole of beliefs, norms, arrangements and institutions and patterns of interactions.
Health care systems is the patterns of beliefs about the causes of illnesses ,norms governing the choice and evaluation of treatment and institutions and settings in which the health care takes place as well as power relations that govern the interactions between patients and their healers.
No medical system can be said to be water-tight. For instance, the existence side by side of traditional spiritual healing traditions and western cosmopolitan bio-medical traditions has been reported in such big world cities as Amsterdam.
..., 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.
Kleinman, A. 1980. Patients and Healers in the Context of Culture: An Exploration of the Borderland between Anthropology, Medicine, and Psychiatry. University of California Press.
In the novel, “The spirit catches you and you fall down”, Anne Fadiman was brilliantly able to capture how communication between other cultures takes place in the medical community. She writes about the experience of a Hmong family, the Lee’s, to portray the dissimilarities between two distinct cultures, Hmong and American. Throughout the novel she takes us on a rollercoaster of a journey as problems arise due to many barriers that naturally occur when collaborating two very divergent ways of life. Unfortunately the journey she takes us on does not come with a happy ending as we all expect. the edifying friction between the young girl’s parents and her doctors caused her to wasted away because of medical conditions, epilepsy and septic shock, which could have been treatable. Nevertheless, although Fadiman’s book depicts an unambiguous state of affairs, it is an eye opener to the nuisance of cultural conflict that can be practical to all circumstances and can be utilized by all nurses to provide cultural competent care.
...the formal and explicit cognitive practice learned through educational institutions. This type of practice is focused on the professional knowledge and care that nurses are taught in a educational establishment. Nurses provide (McFarland and Wehbe-Alamah 2015, p.14).assistive and supportive care for patients, along with the proper training to improve a patient 's health, prevent illnesses, and/or help with the dying. Taking the Culture Care Theory and ethnonursing research methods helps a nurse in the transcultural field provide culturally congruent care. This gives the nurses the ability to expand their knowledges and apply or teach their discoveries when interacting with a variety of diverse cultures. The form to obtain these new discoveries is presented in the most naturalistic and open way possible to keep a comforting relationship between the nurse and patient.
As the quintessential Medical Anthropologist Dr. Paul Farmer’s book Aids and Accusation is the typical representative of the interpretivist approach which studies health systems as systems of meaning. So, this works under the belief that people make their own choices and are not connected to laws of science or nature. The research in this field tends to be done from an objective point of view, greater detail, and looks at culture and how people live their lives, therefore obtaining high validity because it is a true representation and is trustworthy.
However, culture is not restricted to ethnicity, race, or religion, and we are all part of many different subcultures that exist within other cultures. Subcultures may include areas of interest such as cancer survivors, senior citizens, and may even represent common needs, such as the specific needs of the homeless. “Understanding the complexities of culture from the perspectives of the providers and the recipients of care is critical because culture pervades all aspects of health care as it does all aspects of life” (Schim, Doorenbos, Benkert, & Miller, 2007, p.
Haitian culture offers a wide range of explanation for illness based upon the social, cultural and religious beliefs. The explanations are also dependent upon the locations and the class. They hold multiple views since they mainly rely on hybrid models which eventually lead them to consult for an illness from different persons.
233). She studied anthropology and applied the research findings in nursing. Later, she developed the theory of “culture care diversity and universality” from her personal experience as a nurse and other factors that influenced such as ethnic conflicts, commuting, and technology changes. It is illustrated and described by the Sunrise four-level model, and it is labeled as “an enabler” (Masters, 2014, p. 69). The first level represents a “worldview”, the second level presents “knowledge concerning individuals and groups”, the third level includes “specific features of care in the system”, and the fourth level is “specific nursing care” (Masters, 2014, p. 69; Jarošová, 2014, p. 47). The main purpose of this theory is “to generate knowledge related to the nursing care of people who value their cultural heritage” (McEwen & Wills, 2014, p. 233). The major concepts in this theory include: culture, culture care, and diversities and similarities and sub-concepts include care and caring, emic view (language expression, perceptions, beliefs, and practice), and etic view (universal language expressions beliefs and practices in regard to certain phenomena) (McEwen & Wills, 2014, p. 233). The base knowledge
Kleinman, Arthur M. “What Kind of Model for the Anthropology of Medical Systems?” American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 80, No. 3 (Sep, 1978), pp. 661-665.
An individual’s culture and belief may significantly impact the type of services they require. In addition, it may affect the time, place, and method in the delivery of health care
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.
In summary, this independent project has just begun my study of Medical Anthropology and has established a solid background to further my progress toward reaching one of my professional goals: to be a collaborative healthcare provider. This goal will be further developed as I begin the nursing program at St. Olaf's College next fall.
Melissa Cheyney is a medical anthropologist and licensed midwife. She obtained Master's in bio-archaeology with a focus on health and disease patterns in classical antiquity. As Melissa entered her doctoral program, her focus began to shift to the health of living populations. (Oregon State)
Medical Anthropology is dedicated to the relationship between human behavior, social life, and health within an anthropological context. It provides a forum for inquiring into how knowledge, meaning, livelihood, power, and resource distribution are shaped and how, in turn, these observable facts go on to shape patterns of disease, experiences of health and illness, and the organization of treatments. It focuses on many different topics including the political ecology of disease, the interface of the micro- and macro-environments that affect health, the politics of responsibility as it relates to health, gender and health, the moral, political and interpersonal contexts of bodily suffering, and the social meanings of disease categories and ideals of health. Focal points also include the cultural and historical conditions that shape medical practices and policies, the social organization of clinical interactions, and the uses and effects of medical technologies.
Medical anthropologists examine epidemic outbreaks through numerous approaches. According to Joralemon, “Epidemics offer particularly vivid demonstrations of the interconnections between biological, social, and cultural components in the human experience of disease” (2010:29). Many times these approaches cannot function on their own accord and rely on each other to solve the epidemic. It is the job of the medical anthropologist to put all the pieces of the disease puzzle together.