Competent Articulation Of Response

Cultural competency aids in closing the “disparities gap” in health care. ("OMH," 2012, para. 2) In doing so, health professionals and their clients are better able to discuss concerns without cultural differences getting in the way of effective communication and problem solving. Being respectful of and sensitive to the client’s health beliefs, culture, values, and diverse needs can bring positive outcomes within treatment and patient care. After all, is it not the main job of the health care provider to ensure patient trust? Open forms of communication when dealing with client issues can only be provided if the patient is comfortable with his provider and believes his

There is a clear evidence that links Clinician-patient communication to patient satisfaction, treatment adherence and health outcomes. The understanding and the appreciation of cultural differences highly influence the communication and the plan of treatment (6, 7). Failure of physicians in understanding sociocultural differences between themselves and their patients might results in lower quality of health care (8).

The five following questions are a great way to discuss today’s communication in the health care field; this paper will give a better explanation on what therapeutic communications are, cultural blindness as well as cultural competence, and identifying cultural backgrounds. Working in the health care field we use these very few things every day without even realizing it. It is important that health care professionals have a clear understanding about these concepts to provide the proper care to patients.

This form of communication allows physicians to better grasp certain cultural disparities and more effectively treat patients. (Commonwealth fund June 2009)

There are numerous issues throughout the case study, therefore only a small selection of key issues will be identified.

It is know that the patient’s community or cultural group can have significant impact on a person’s health. Therefore, health care practitioners are faced with more challenges that include outside sources and they need to be willing to change their treatments to address the other sources.

Cultural aspects of holistic assessment is relevant in the provision of nursing care as it provides the care team with an overview of cultural needs of the patient as well as providing information in which the patients’ health problems have arisen. Culture is defined as values, beliefs, artifacts, behaviors, attitudes and customs influencing and regulating interactions between members of a social group (Stein-Parbury 2010: 91; Johnstone 2006: 67). It is the nurses responsibility to adhere to the ANMC, competency 2.3, ‘accepts individuals/groups to whom care is provided regardless of race, culture, religion, age, gender, sexual preference, physical or mental state’ (ANMC 2006, p. 4). Kozier & Erb (2012: 360) discuss that cultural sensitivity, appropriateness, competency and safety are all factors that are required to be taken into consideration so that the patient can be provided with the best possible health care. Kozier & Erb (2012: 360) also explain that conflicts in health care have been apparent due to cultural misunderstandings. An example of a cultural misunderstanding is the level of pain. In some cultures, it is normal to dramatically express ones level of pain whereas in other cultures people do

Miscommunication, medication errors, and lack of compliance commonly occur in the healthcare field. These are just a few of the errors that occur due to the patient being from a different culture than the physician or healthcare worker. Those three errors alone have a huge impact on our healthcare today. If we could have a better understanding of other cultures that are different from our own we could have a dramatic decrease in errors and a great increase in healthcare participation. Training must be completed and must be done in more than one way. The first step is to make sure that all physicians and health care workers get the same nationwide training that focuses on improving cultural competence. How this is completed must be done in more than one way (Horwitz, 2001).

On the other hand, although the healthcare provider is able to speak their patient's language, providers often fail to consider the patient's education level and may at times use medical jargons that the patient may not understand, thus resulting in a failure to communicate with their patient. Healthcare provider may lack the skills and knowledge in understanding their patient's culture other than their own. This often results in the medical provider "pushing" their beliefs onto their patient and if the desired results are not realized, this results in mistrust of the healthcare provider and the healthcare system. To increase cultural competence among healthcare workers and increase the amount of minority's access to healthcare, medical schools and medical facilities are incorporating "Clinical Cultural Competence Interventions." The goal of this program is to provide "educational and training interventions to equip healthcare providers with the knowledge, tools, and skills to better understand and manage socio-cultural issues in the clinical encounter," (Betancourt, Green, Carrillo, and Ananeh-Firempong, 2003, p. 298). Again, although the guidebook is an excellent tool, to achieve the desired health outcomes, it is up to the provider or healthcare team to incorporate these evidence based practices into their

What cultural considerations must you think about? (Did the group describe cultural considerations relevant to treating the particular patient?) (3 points)

Does not state problem(s) or identify symptoms, critical factors and current state in Background discussion.

· A person may not comprehend directions (written or spoken) and consequently find it difficult to comply

Patients and their families bring culturally specific beliefs regarding the ideas about health and illness, reporting symptoms, expectations for the delivery of health care, and views about medication and treatment. A culturally sensitivity individual recognizes the differences between cultures and accepts them. Healthcare providers are urged to recognize, respect, and integrate clients' cultural beliefs and practices into health prescriptions (Purnell, 2005, p. 8). A failure to appreciate these differences may cause a misunderstanding or miscommunication about healthcare. Language is the foundation for effective nurse-patient relationships and is important for interpersonal and cross-cultural communication.

A second disadvantage of using interpretivist methods of research is that the results are not representative. Using interpretivist research methods

• Consultants may not have access to all the information they need to be helpful.