Cultural Differences In Health Care

As our communities become progressively diverse, healthcare and healthcare professionals are faced with many new challenges. Language barrier alone is one major area where which can lead to misunderstandings, miscommunication and as a result, affect patient care in a negative way. Other challenges to the healthcare providers are the cultural differences influencing how people view health vs. illness. Often what some people might view to be health others might perceive very differently. Issues of perceptions can play a role in whether a person will or decides against seeking help. Certain diseases depending on a culture might have stigmas attached to them, such as AIDS, HIV, sexually transmitted diseases, or a mental illness to name a few. Patients may not want to discuss such conditions with their

As a healthcare provider, I often hear complaints coming from the facility management about patients arriving for their surgery, surrounded by multiple family members, often extended family members. As such populous arrival might cause problems accommodating other patients and their family members, cultures with community orientation, feel morally obliged to show support to their loved ones in their time of need. Understanding such differences can help to keep emotions under control, and better manage patients flow through the facility. Other, yet obstacle to intercultural communication in health care are previous experiences of any given ethnic group. The history of a different medical treatment such as the Tuskegee study has created mistrust amongst some cultural groups, which still characterizes the interactions between the health care providers and many members of the black community. While many of us might think that health care is a scientific or medical issue, healthcare much like communication is also deeply embedded in