Cultural Diversity In Healthcare

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What is cultural diversity like? Why is it so important? Does the world need cultural diversity? These are all questions to think about when learning about the importance of culture. It’s important to have awareness of culture without being biased. In healthcare, cultural diversity has the ability to enrich the medical field. It shows different types of beliefs, characteristics, and practices which can provide learning skills to healthcare professionals. If you are considering a career in healthcare, you also need to keep in mind the ethical and cultural considerations. These considerations are shared by many cultures like Hispanic/Latino Americans, Middle Eastern/Arab Americans, African Americans, and also Native Americans. Ethnicity represents …show more content…

So what is cultural diversity? Cultural diversity is being able to appreciate the differences of a group with other ways of living. In healthcare, cultural diversity is crucial for Post, Extemporaneous Writing Essay 3 providing inclusive medical care. Health care professionals can change and adapt their approach to meet the needs of the patient to make sure that they get the specific care they need. Cultural assimilation is a process of adopting a dominant culture and handing over another person's own cultural identity. An example of cultural assimilation would be immigrants moving to the United States. These people leave their home country for some sort of reason and migrate to the United States. They then start to adopt the culture of the United States and start to make that their “new” culture. Acculturation, on the other hand, is like blending two cultures together. This would be like if the immigrants moved to the United States and instead of handing over their culture to the dominant one, they would blend the two cultures together. In this case, they aren’t giving up their old culture and starting fresh, they are finding a balance between the …show more content…

This can also be applied to the other behaviors. Gestures are also very important to be considerate about. Asian and Native Americans view gestures as a very strong threat and can be misinterpreted as rude or disrespectful. It is easy for a patient to get uncomfortable in a situation if these behaviors aren’t applied correctly. Cultural sensitivity is a way of respecting the different ways people not only live, but also express themselves and Post, Extemporaneous Writing Essay 4 think. In a way, it’s kind of like empathy, but for cultures. Empathy is the ability to understand, sense, and share the feelings of another person. Cultural sensitivity is being aware that different people come from many different backgrounds and all have a different way of living. It helps people be able to recognize and appreciate the differences in culture, and to make sure that everyone around them feels like they have respect and are appreciated for who they really are. In conclusion, cultural awareness and diversity are both vital for healthcare to run smoothly and not have any

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