Cultural Barriers In Health Care

1291 Words3 Pages

Communication is the backbone of progress. Therefore to change, adapt, or develop requires the assimilation of the spirit and artful skills of communication (Gregory Dawes, 2001). I will first define how language differences lead to barriers in communication and along with it a case study of Pediatricians and Spanish-speaking mothers. It will then describe as to what can be done to overcome this barrier. Furthermore, I will discuss on the cultural barrier to the health system with an example of a West African culture. Moreover, the definition of Health literacy, which is the last barrier that I will include will be explained along with some conclusions the NAAL has measured. I will discuss the points as to how these three major reasons could …show more content…

More than 20 million people in the U.S are not capable in English. This limited ability of them isn’t enough to communicate about the symptoms with healthcare providers might lead to a stage for inadequate and maybe to a fatal treatment. Hospitals situated in California, Texas, and Mexico, appoints translators to act as a bridge between patients and doctors. Some healthcare systems however, are not fortunate enough to do this (Blog.healthcareerweb.com, 2016). Research mention that communication failures between the patient and healthcare professionals contribute to conflicting events and medical faults. Linguistic diversification within the United State presently is much greater than n the whole of Europe. In the vast growth of the populations with LEP is being a new problem where there are only few doctors to handle these risky situations. Generally, people who are recruited to help patients communicate with caregivers are not trained interpreters; instead, they are the family members, non-fluent healthcare professional untrained non clinical employees or the fellow patients themselves. Certainly, interpretation mistakes undergo many preventable results in …show more content…

Consider how your own cultural beliefs, values and behaviors may affect interactions with patients. If you suspect an interaction has been adversely affected by cultural bias – your own or your patient’s – consider seeking help. Respect, understand and work with differing cultural perceptions of effective or appropriate treatment. Ask about and record how your patients like to receive health care and treatment information (Society,

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