Reflective Journal 3 - End of Life Care, Cultural Beliefs

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Florida State College at Jacksonville *

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3125

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Medicine

Date

Apr 3, 2024

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docx

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Uploaded by CorporalHare3927

Introduction There are numerous health remedies in the world. While it may seem like every culture uses traditional medicine, many cultures do not believe in this. In the American health care system (western culture), we rely on medicine, technology, diagnosis, and treatment. For some patients, a chaplain may be involved. This health care system differs with the many other cultures in the world. Others may rely on chaplain before choosing medicine, or they may not use medicine at all. The western culture use physicians, practitioners, nurses, therapists, social workers, and a chaplain if desired. As health care differs for cultures, so do the healers and remedies. The Caribbean culture has an abundance of healers and remedies that differ from the American health care system. It is also important to know what patients understand about their illness, what they believe in, and how much they want to know about their health. The purpose of this reflective journal is to review the Caribbean culture’s healers and folk remedies and discuss how it may be used in the western culture. In addition, a patient’s model of illness, their religious or spiritual values, and their approach to truth telling will be reviewed. Healers, Remedies, Western Problems The Caribbean culture has several healers in their health care system. Healers include extended family members, friends, neighbors, folk practitioners, faith healers, “old lady” (woman who raised a family successfully), and a houngan (priest or priestess). The folk remedies include herbals, potions, heat and cold applications, crystals, massage, meditation, powders, rites, and ceremonies. Oils, candles, soaps, and sprays are used to repel “evil forces.” When all these remedies have been utilized, a health clinic visit may occur. One would not integrate the Caribbean remedies with western remedies. There are plenty of people in the western culture that do not believe in medicine, but that is how our health system

works. One knows that people do not always have the money for medicine as well. If the Caribbean remedies were used with western remedies, it should be an option and in any order the patient sees fit. Although, there could be some problems with this. A culture is a collection of customs within a social group, and these customs usually have been around for a long time. There would be an issue of change if this integration took place. There would also be some belief complications. Because medicine is so commonly used by Americans, they would not believe in herbals, crystals, massages, meditation, etc. These kinds of remedies could be optional and more for comfort and relaxation because medicine does not always aid in that. Another issue would be that people do not trust the healers of the Caribbean culture. They have not gone to school and studied the human body like physicians, practitioners, or nurses have. Integrating the Caribbean remedies could be beneficial for relaxation, but not physical healing. Model of Illness & Truth Telling Patients may relate to their illness, whether intimately because they know everything about the illness, or they may feel they are being punished by God, or patients have no knowledge about the illness and believe many explanations. To elicit the patient’s explanatory model of illness, one can ask questions to understand their point of view. Examples being: What do you know about your illness? What do you believe is the cause of your illness? What do you think is the timeline of your illness? It is also important to address patient’s religious and spiritual values. As mentioned before, patient’s may feel they are being punished by God with their illness. This can be another question to address when eliciting their model of illness. To address a patient’s religious and spiritual values, one can ask patients about what they believe in, how they feel spiritually, and if what they believe in helps with their illness.

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