A Reflection Of The Story Of Fadiman

Reflection of the story of the book author Fadiman

First and foremost, the book of Fadiman (2014) is very inspiring, eye opening to anybody who reads the book, and it is also disappointing because of the medical practitioners provided unequal treatment to the Hmong family. One of the most refreshing attitudes of the Hmong people is their honesty, humility, patience, never gave up to fight fo their daughter, fight fo their belief and the close families ties, as well as the support among Hmong people. As I searched more information about Hmong people, it is fascinating to know that they believe in various spirits that surround the Hmong people. The Hmong people believe in spiritual healing (shamanism) to heal their illness (Bankston, 2013).

Effective communication prevents medical errors, improve patient- therapist relationship, as well as prevents disappointments and friction. It is essential to find out the level of health literacy of an individual, as well as the proficiency in English. According to Divi, Koss, Schmaltz & Loeb (2007), there is a risk of patient 's safety due to the language barrier. Based on the study of Divi et al. (2007), among 832 English speaking patients and 251 patients with limited English fluency, 49% of the patients of their study have limited English fluency that associated with physical harm with a rate of 29.5% patients that are fluent in English are physically injured. Partially injured and death occurs with patients with constrained English proficiency (52.4%), as compared to patients with English fluency (35.9%) (Divi et al., 2007). Divi et al. (2007) suggested providing access to qualified language interpreters for patients with limited English proficiency to prevent more harm. Effective communicating is not only important to patients with limited, or inadequate English proficiency but also to individuals with impaired vision, hearing, and people that unable to speak.It is also important about the patient 's privacy. Another knowledge from the book mentioned above is effective communication regardless of individuals culture.

The social worker is the only health care provider who patiently provided and emotional support to the Lee family. Also, the social worker was the only person who had the social, cultural interaction and spent time finding resources for the child 's (patient) medical supply because of limited health insurance benefits. However, the health care providers from the book of Fadiman (2013) provided a poor cultural interaction, and various medical errors of providing child 's care. First, the doctors prescribed different anti-seizure medications and other drugs for the child with lack of knowledge that the parents of the child (patient) fully understand the prescribed medications, as well as the schedule and number of dose to be dispensed. The health care providers of the child should have a better communication to prevent overmedicating the patient. Second, the patient 's parents were asked to sign a consent form translated in English only, and without fully explaining the content of the form. The doctors did not ask if the parents of the child fully understand the consent form. Third, the miswritten of the child 's name in the medical chart. There is a consequence of misspelled, or miswritten name in the medical chart may cause a medical error of