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Essay on health and culture
Sociology of health & illness
Cultural diversity in healthcare
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“Health and illness are cultural concepts because how we perceive, experience, and manage health and illness are enculturated into us by our cultural group.” (DeRosa & Kochurka, 2006, p18) As a result, for a healthcare organization to be recognized, it must spread awareness of the different types of cultures and ethnicity that it provides its services to. Consumers, especially patients, tend to be very meticulous when it comes to their care. For instance, a potential customer, may research a facility prior to their hospitalization or elective procedure. Based on the Sentara web site, any potential individual would be attracted in engaging with the organization. As a potential employee, the perceptions that one may have about this organization
..., 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.
Cultural competency is a very significant necessity in health care today and the lack of it in leadership and in the health workforce, is quite pressing. The lack of cultural competency can bring about dire consequences such as racial and ethnic disparities in health care. It may not be the sole reason for these disparities, but it certainly places a significant role. A patient and health care provider relationship is very significant and can make or break the quality of care that is given. The lack of cultural competency leads to poor communication which then leads to those of diverse backgrounds to feel either unheard or just plain misunderstood. As an East African
Culturally competent cares in the medical field can make a huge difference in the satisfaction and the healing of patients who are guests in the facilities that we will be at. In central Minnesota we have the privilege of having many different cultures in a small area. With many people immigrating here from their homeland it is important, as health care professionals, to have an understanding of the many different beliefs and traditions that we may come across in our personal and professional lives.
Introduction Cultural Competency is fundamentally linked to the principles of social justice and human rights because it provides the nurses with the opportunity to develop interpersonal skills to provide equal care despite one’s cultural background. However, using the principles of social justice and human rights to educate nurses allows them to learn how to negotiate cultural differences. Removing their own cultural filters, and seeing events through the eyes of those who are culturally different, accomplish this. An embedded experience, in which nurses interact with various cultures, would encourage them to adopt cultural competency knowledge (Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, 2008). Environmental justice can affect the population’s health.
The healthcare system within America reflects increasing numbers of cultural diversity and awareness. According to Holloway (2004), cultural awareness is defined as the deliberate, cognitive process by which health care providers become appreciative of and sensitive to the values, beliefs, practices, and problem solving strategies of the clients’ cultures. Cultural awareness include an examination of one’s personal biases. In order to understand cultural diversity, individuals must strive to acknowledge the prejudices they may already hold toward different cultures. On the other hand, cultural competence is a process through which health professionals can integrate their knowledge and skills to improve culturally effective interactions with clients (Tjale & Villiers, 2004).
A cultural assessment interview is very important when taking care of patients or their families who may be from a different culture than the nurse’s. In order to be able to better take care of a patient, we first need to know their own interpretation of disease and illness within their cultural context, values, and beliefs. Since I am Indian and my culture is a mix of the Indian cultural beliefs and my religion Islam, I was looking forward to this interview so that I am able to learn more about different cultures using my assessment.
Culture care is grounded within one’s worldview, which is shape by social structure factors such as religion, economics, cultural values, environmental context, ethnohistory, and language (Alligood, 2014; Sitzman & Eichelberger, 2015). Moreover, culture care share similarities and differences related to health and well-being, how individual deal with disability and death, as well as, when to seek relief from illnesses or distress. As culture plays a vital role in health care seeking habits and decision making, it is imperative for nurses to fully understand cultural knowledge. With increase cultural knowledge, nurses are better able to implement care plans that are beneficial to the patient with respect to their beliefs, values, and cultural
programs, particularly with treatment initiation and retention. Hiring qualified staff of the same ethnic background may dramatically increase patient access and initiation into treatment. In addition, if the treatment provider is not of the same ethnic background, it is best that he or she take on an inquisitive role and not make any ethnocentric assumptions based on his own cultural heritage. The goat of the clinician should be to uncover social cultural issues that will affect acceptance, retention, and ultimately, treatment outcome". (Patrick Abbott, MD and Duane M. Chase. n.d para,
These differences in origin accounts for diversity in socio-cultural backgrounds and nurses must develop the knowledge and the skills to engage patients from different cultures and to understand the beliefs and the values of those cultures (Jarvis, 2012). If healthcare professionals focus only on a narrowly defined biomedical approach to the treatment of disease, they will often misunderstand their patients, miss valuable diagnostic cues, and experience higher rates of patient noncompliance with therapies. Thus, it is important for a nurse to know what sociocultural background a patient is coming from in order to deliver safe an effective
Cultural competence in health care provision refers to the capacity of health care systems to offer good care to patients and accommodate employees, who have diverse beliefs, behaviors, and values to meet their cultural, linguistic, and social needs. It comprises of policies, attitudes, and behaviors that integrate to form a system that can operate efficiently in cross cultural conditions. Healthcare organizations look at cultural competence from two major viewpoints. Firstly, it is a tool to enhance patient care from all backgrounds, social groups, languages, religions, and beliefs. Secondly, it is a tool that strategically attracts potential clients to their organizations and, hence, expands
The cultural competence seen in the health care system enables the ability of an organization to accommodate people with diverse languages, beliefs and values, and still work with harmony under the same system.
Health as a Social Construction In my essay, I aim to find out why social construction affects the health of our society. Ill health may be defined as 'a bodily or mental state that is deemed undesirable'. This means that health is the condition of the body both physically and mentally. Social construction of health refers to the way health varies from one society to another.
In the clinical setting, nurses are believed to spend the most time with patients. This involves regularly dealing with people coming from different ethnicities and with different cultural practices and beliefs (Brown & Edwards, 2012). Given this cultural diversity, every patient may have his/her own cultural beliefs and practices regarding his/her own health and its treatment which can be similar or different to those ...
Sociology of Health and Illness The sociological approaches focus on identifying the two sociological theories. We critically analysed the biomedical model and doctor-patient relationship. We also evaluated how the medical professionals exercise social control and the medical professional’s contribution to ill health. The difference between society and health is studied by sociologists in relation to health and illness.
As a nurse strive to provide culturally sensitive care, they must recognize how their client's and their perceptions are similiar as well as different. Nurse enhance their ability to provide client-centered care by reflecting on how their beliefs and values impact the nurse-patient relationship. To provide appropriate patient care, the nurse must understand her/his culture and that of the nurse profession. Cultural biases can be particularly difficult to identify when the nurse and client are of a similar cultural backgroup. When we recognize and know a culture, we will know what is right for our patient, and thus may impose our own values on the client by assuming our values are their values. Recognizing differences a present an opportunity not only to know the other, but also to help gain a greater sense of self. In this paper, I will explain more about diversity and cultural competence in case study.