Summary Of Cultural Competent Health Care

Towson University, posted a video referring to Cultural Competent Healthcare. Assistant Professor of Nursing Nancy Hannafin, Ph.D., asserts in this video the benefits of having health care providers who are aware of other cultures, and the positive impact it has on its patients. This type of healthcare does not require the healthcare provider to be familiar with the heath care techniques from the country of origin, but should have a familiarly with the country of origin and different cues in the setting. She states that in in 2001, the US Department of Health and Human Services under the division of the Office of Minority Health created the CLAS standard. This standard stood for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services. CLAS consisted

of 14 standards of detailed and appropriate guidelines that can apply to all populations. The point of this healthcare system was not only to celebrates diversity but has a commitment to cultural education.

Hannafin expresses that Cultural Competent Healthcare deviates from the typical ‘one size fits all” heath care plans. Instead this system not only prohibits stereotyping of any particular culture, but it exceedingly allows an immersive patient/doctor experience. For example, the patient gets to have a say in what part of their culture that they would like to infuse in their healthcare, rather than the doctor just assuming or not even considering.

In Module 13, there were several cultural concepts that I felt could be considered relevant to the Cultural Competent Healthcare video. However, the one’s that linked a connection between medical anthropology (the video) and political anthropology (the terms) were Agency, Social Movement, and Framing Process. Agency for starters is defined as “the potential power of

individuals and groups to contest cultural norms, values, symbols, mental maps of reality, institutions, and structures of power”(Guest). Agency pertains to the healthcare video as the Office of Minority Health is the political department that is attempting to do the opposite of constructing culture. In fact, the whole purpose is to preserve it. Social Movement on the overhand is a “collective groups actions in response to uneven development, inequality, and injustice that seek to build institutional networks to transform cultural patterns and government policies”(Guest). This concept in specific is exactly what the US Department of Health and Human Services under the division of the Office of Minority Health did. It created a culturally educated healthcare system that enabled justice for those seeking medical care, yet wanting to stay genuine to their culture patterns. Finally, the Framing Process is described as “the creation of shared meanings and definitions that motivate and justify collective action by social movements”(Guest). This form of political anthropology relays to the topic at hand, as the US Department of Health and Human Services framed the need for cultural education by defining the current state of the world as stereotyping and losing its diversity. This action to frame the situation, created the desire and purpose of the Social Movement that created Cultural Competent Healthcare.
While this term isn’t from Module 13, I felt Culture-Bound Syndrome was appropriate to include as well.

It refers to a condition or set of symptoms that is restricted to a particular culture or limited number of cultures. With the Cultural Competent Healthcare system in place, it’s not only important to understand one’s place of origins and wishes, but also to understand specific illnesses that may just be limited to a single culture. For instance, Ode-ori is a syndrome found in Nigeria, where the sensation of parasites crawling in the head, feelings of heat in the head, and paranoid fears of attacks by evil spirits over take one’s mind (The Sage Dictionary). While this is a mental illness, a healthcare provider, must be aware of how one might treat this, by being culturally

educated.
The topic of Cultural Competent Healthcare informs us about about medical anthropology and the cultural constructs of the body, health and illness cross-culturally. Anthropologist can continue to assist in the lack of culturally appropriate physicians by educating those who are not under the system and adding to the CLAS standard to ensure that the diverse cultures from around the world, at least get the respectful medical care they deserve in the States. This interplay is not just with The United States but between global health politics and the local understandings of illness and therapy. This connection forms the mechanisms for the need to fund health care programs, such as Cultural Competent Healthcare. Members of such governmental departments and agencies have studied the impact of conflict on health and the politics behind it. In short, “the analysis of the politics of global health indicates a commitment to understanding the ways in which health care within low and middle income countries is shaped by global institutions and trade, and the ability to reformulate health care to address needs and concerns of vulnerable people, including refugees and migrants”. (Redgrave). This is hence where the intersection of heath and politics meets.