Cultural Broker In Health Care

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

Cultural competency is the capacity of people or services to include ethnic/cultural considerations into all aspects of their work related to health promotion, disease prevention and other and other healthcare interventions (Cultural competence is important for several reasons, (Purnell, 2008a).First, it can contribute in the development of culturally sensitive practices which can reduce barriers that effect treatment in healthcare settings. Second, it can promote understanding, which is detrimental in cultural competence assessment, to know whom, the individuals known as the primary care provider and whom they view as the primary healer, can attribute to the promotion of trust and increase the person’s interest in participating

Culture has more than one definition. It can be defined as the language spoken throughout a group of people or even the beliefs practiced. In the professional field of nursing, nurses are required to do more than administer medication or change bandages on a patient. To be able to fulfill a nurse’s job requirements, a nurse must learn to be culturally competent. Cultural competency in the professional field of nursing means to care and respect the patient whether or not the health care provider is in agreement with the patient’s decisions.

A cultural broker can help to bridge, link or mediate between groups or persons of differing cultural backgrounds to assist with a smooth introduction and interaction between the service and the Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander community and can be involved on a needs basis especially when there is a language barrier.

Cultural competency is becoming essential in American healthcare with the increasing and diversification of immigration. The Department of Homeland Security, 2014 statistics indicates over 750,000 immigrants received naturalization in the US. These naturalized citizens represent over 20 countries varying from Hispanic, Indian, Asian, African, and Middle Eastern cultures. A change in the way American healthcare treats these cultures is necessitated to provide efficient care and achieve positive outcomes. Douglas et al. (2014) guidelines are to empower patients to help diminish the inequities of their own healthcare. The guidelines for culturally competent care are meant to guide the nurse, nurse educators, and nurse managers in their competent treatment of persons of other cultures. These guidelines mandate a nurse use education, self-assessment and reflection, and diversification of the workforce to meet the demands. The ten guidelines are knowledge of culture, education and training in culturally competent care, critical reflection, cross-cultural communication, culturally competent practice, cultural competence in health care systems and organizations, patient advocacy and empowerment, multicultural workforce, cross-cultural leadership, and evidence-based practice and research.

There is limited healthcare services and literature that is culturally and linguistically appropriate for culturally diverse populations. These barriers have been shown over the years to threaten how effective care is for these populations. The healthcare system depends on nurses to facilitate services, care plans and educate patients on various health issues.

Cultural competence is a group of similar manners, attitudes, and strategies that collaborate in a system, organization or among experts and facilitate that system, organization or those professions to perform efficiently in cross-cultural states. A culturally competent health and wellness program provides services that take action to past inequities, existed realities, varied values, behaviors, and beliefs. It adapts advances to gather the diverse requirements of multicultural populations. Cultural competency can be implemented into our health and wellness programs by training the staff and health care experts of the programs to understand a patient’s diverse values, behaviors, beliefs, and modify treatment to meet the patients' community,

A cultural broker is someone who is able to communicate cross culturally about decisions that need to be made in order to reject or accept something (Pipher, 2002, p. 89). A cultural broker can be someone such as a teacher, a social worker, a case manager, a nurse or a guidance counselor. Cultural brokers help refugees or new citizens adapt to a different culture and way of life. Cultural brokers also help new citizens apply for insurance, apply for jobs, find them housing, show them to the nearest grocery store and assist them in adapting to a new country.

Culturally competent care is more important now than it has been ever before. BY 2020, 35% of the American population will consist of ethnic minorities as compared to today's 28% (Goldsmith, n.d.). This means that in order to best cater to these different patients, doctors and nurses have to speak the language of the different ethnicities, understanding their perspectives of medicine and treatment and catering to these in rode rot provide them with the best intervention.

Cultural and linguistic competence is an essential component in the work towards addressing and eliminating health disparities because it will allow everyone to truly understand exactly what the problem is and have common goals. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, definition of linguistic competence is “the capacity of an organization and its personnel to convey information in a manner that is easily understood”. This means that everyone is on an equal level if they are illiterate, speak a different language, have a disability, etc. Treatment is half of healthcare, but the interactions between doctors and patients is the other half, and arguably more impotent. Patients will be less likely to follow the instructions their physician gives them if they do not feel respected. It is a fact that black and Latinos

Culture defined as “ an integrated pattern of human behaviour that include the language, thoughts, communications, actions, customs, beliefs, values, and institutions of racial, ethnic, or social groups.”1 Competence refers to “the capacity to function effectively as an individual and an organization within the context of the cultural beliefs, behaviours, and needs presented by consumers and their communities.”2

Culturally competent involves the attitudes, knowledge, and skills necessary for the providing quality care to diverse populations. I myself am not fully aware of the cultural competence of each ethnicity group, it is a complex area to learn about and it takes time to learn since it is constantly changing. The parts about cultural competency I am aware about is that I have some basic knowledge about diverse cultures, how I must apply the knowledge to make sure my patient is provided the best care, and that I must attend to the total context of the individual’s situation. The culturally diverse client for who I want to provide culturally congruent care to in the healthcare setting would be the Asian American, who make up the third largest ethnic group in the United States. I would expand my knowledge of the Asian culture by firstly understanding and knowing the basic information, about the original culture and traditional values.

When clinically assessing patients in care settings, it is paramount for health professionals to elicit pertinent information that could be crucial for delivery of care. This is particularly important in the United States because the increasing diversity in racial and ethnic composition of the population has presented cultural challenges that care givers must navigate to provide culturally competent service. Cultural competence during delivery of care requires sensitivity to the cultural, social, and linguistic needs of patients (Betancourt, Green, Carrillo, 2002). As a consequence, care providers need cultural assessment tools that will enable them

Cultural competency is important in the health care field, especially in the United States, because of the great diversity. Knowing that people from different cultural backgrounds have specific beliefs on how the body works and is maintained. Researching these differences will allow the healthcare professional to use fewer stereotypes and treat each patient equally. Working in dental offices and attending school with people from the Pacific Islands has led me to develop stereotypes about their culture. I am sure not all of the stereotypes I have are true, so it is important for me to research the culture’s healthcare beliefs and practices before treating the patient. The different beliefs will affect how I approach the patient during the dental hygiene process of care, especially during the initial assessment and during the planning process.

A lack in cultural competency: Cultural incompetency is a broad concept of cultural and/or linguistic barriers between healthcare providers, patients, and supporting staff members (Truong, M, 2014). In the case of AHC, there are linguistic barriers present. This issue has been addressed by the medical staff but resulted as a failed effort. Discussions with staff members revealed that the facility did see an influx of patients when hiring more culturally diverse health care personnel, but the staff felt the need to resign before termination caused by the inability of following orders they did not understand (Jacobs, E, et al, 2006)