Cultural Considerations In Health Care

As much as we would like to believe, since it is the twenty first century, race and ethnicity would never factor into the quality of an individual’s care, it unfortunately till this day still affects some individuals. There are countless of reports submit daily on races such as black and Latino. Forbes magazine reports in a study African- Americans, Latinos, and economically disadvantaged experience lower quality of care than white Americans; the worst part? This number is continuing to grow. Statistically, 35% of Latinos

It is important for policy makers to create services that are culturally sensitive since the United States is a culturally diverse country; moreover, Healthcare professionals needs to be culturally competent so that they can guide policy makers in making sustainable systems for individual communities. “Efforts to improve cultural competence among health care professionals and organizations would contribute to improving the quality of health care for all consumers” (GeorgeTown Health Policy Institutes, 2004, para 31). Language barrier is another culture issue that prevents the community from getting the care that they deserve. “Cultural and language differences and socioeconomic status interact with and contribute to low health literacy, defined as the inability to understand or act on medical/therapeutic instructions” (Shaw, Huebner, Armin, Orzech, & Vivian, 2009, p.1). There should be health policy addressing this issue because of the confusion and inappropriate treatment that many

One of the major groups of people who can make this happen is the hospital staff. They have been accustomed to “going with the flow” and not necessarily informing its’ patients on upcoming dilemmas or situations that can be preventable within their facility. With the nonwhite population of the United States steadily growing increasing the number of physicians who are of various ethnicities could potentially decrease some disparities. Physicians who are nonwhite provide a “disproportionate share of care to underserved populations” ((Marrast, Zallman, Woolhandler, Bor, & McCormick, 2014). With more physicians of color providing care to people of the same ethnicity a level of trust should be reached thus improving patients care practices at home.

Minority care quality in California is rapidly declining because of the shortage of minority physicians in practice. One might wonder why such a problem exists, but differences in cultural and ethnic identities between doctors and patients alter the quality of care because of preexisting stereotypes, health disparities, and linguistic gaps. Minorities in California consist of those other than non-Hispanic whites, and with their growing presence, they are becoming further underrepresented in the medical field. The foundation of this problem is the declining number of minority students attending medical school and the lack of diversity in medical school faculty. With a greater ethnic diversity in the medical field, comes a better quality of

1. Explain in your own words what each term means. Give on example from care practice to illustrate your explanations.

Health care disparities in the United States occur on the provider level. The implicit biases providers are susceptible to help shape physician behavior and produce differences in medical treatment across a host of demographic characteristics but mainly along the lines of race and ethnicity. This paper focuses mainly on the relationship between providers and Black Americans. There is a complex and historical relationship between providers and Black Americans which dates back to the 16th century that is the basis for the biases physicians exhibit towards this particular minority group in today’s healthcare system. Contrary to popular belief, the Tuskegee Syphilis Study in 1932 is not the forerunner to a host of medical abuses committed against

I enjoyed reading your insights on some of the cultural aspects that influence the healthcare perceptions of the Hispanic population. I also chose this ethnic group for my discussion so it was interesting to see the information that you found. For Ohio nurses, I think it’s essential to learn about these influences because statistics show that the Hispanic population is growing in every county except for one. Immigration is playing a part but the main increase is coming from the birth rate of children of first-generation immigrants. They are becoming adults and are having their own children, which is boosting the overall population.

In addition, Hispanics, Blacks, and some Asian are less likely than non-Hispanic Whites to have a high school education or better healthcare. Some Differences in quality of care this groups have in common: Blacks received worse care than Whites for 41% of quality measures. Hispanics received worse care than non-Hispanic Whites for 39% of measures. Poor people received worse care than high-income people for 47% of measures. Inequalities in access are also common, especially among Hispanics and poor people: Blacks had worse access to care than Whites for 32% of access measures. Asians had worse access to care than Whites for 17% of access measures. Hispanics had worse access to care than non-Hispanic Whites for 63% of access measures. Poor people had worse access to care than high-income people for 89% of access

“Minorities were referred less for cardiac cath, received less pain medication for fractures, received less surgical treatment of lung cancer, received fewer referrals for renal transplant, received fewer referrals for congestive heart failure and pneumonia, and received fewer major procedures for myocardial infarct (in the elderly) (Thomas, 2014, p. 7495).”

One of the greatest things about nursing is that we have the opportunity to share with different cultures and learn about them. Our patients are complex; they each have their religion, culture, and life choices. Delivering health advice and not knowing much about a patient’s cultural background will influence how the patient may perceive the nurses’ advice. The article that I did my research on was published in 2011, by Perez-Avila, Sobralske and Katz; the name of the article is “No Comprendo: Practice Considerations When Caring for Latinos With Limited English Proficiency in the United States Health Care System”. In the United States, Hispanics form the largest minority. Most of this community has limited English

Barriers in health care can lead to disparities in meeting health needs and receiving appropriate care, including preventive services and the prevention of unnecessary hospitalizations (HealthyPeople.gov, 2012). In their 2008 annual report, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality lists several disparities’ in health care. They report that racial and ethnic minorities in the United States

In a perfect world, race, ethnicity and culture would have no negative effect on the medical care we receive, yet problems do arise and it affects the quality of care the patient receives. Language barrier, poor socioeconomic status, and poor health literacy also contribute to health care disparity. For Lia, it was more than her skin color, it was all of the above, her parents did not speak English and they were illiterate. They had trouble understanding the American healthcare system, had trouble or little interest in adjusting to or understanding the American culture. They didn’t work, which in addition to cross cultural misunderstanding, helped contribute to animosity between the Hmong and the host community, because some in the Merced area did not like or appreciate the fact that some Hmong did not work and relied on welfare to make ends meet. All these factors, contributed to the poor quality of

The Orthodox Jewish population is made up of 13.3 million people worldwide, 6.5 million of them residing in the United States (LeElef, 2002). The Jewish culture is not simply belonging to the religious organization, but being one of “their” people. Culture is a group of people that share common history, ethical teachings, language, beliefs and values. As a nurse, is it important to be culturally aware, or able to stand aside and be aware of cultural values, beliefs, and perceptions of our patients and ourselves. It can be a challenge for nursing to incorporate culture sensitive care when not familiar to it, but often times it is very important to the client. Culture can change how illness is perceived, managed and cared for. It is important to be culturally aware so that nursing care is done correctly, while respecting the client’s wishes (Lynam, 2006). When nurses are culturally sensitive with their care, the clients feel respected and feel that they are a part of the care they are given (Stolovy, 2012).

“Demographics of the US population have changed dramatically in the last three decades. These changes directly impact the healthcare industry in regard to the patients we serve and our workforce” (Borkowski, 2012). In fact, Voutsas (2011) argues that the U.S workforce is the most demographically heterogeneous workforce in the world and he believes that this is due to major changes and diversity .Borkowski (2012) also states that the significant changes in the US populations has been seen greatly in regards to gender, age ,and race and ethnicity .

Currently, there is an incidence of patient safety events in hospitals, and sadly these events occur more often in the care for immigrant patients in comparison with patients born in the United States. Although this data proposes a drawback in the medical community, I believe the first step in reducing this disparity is elimination of cultural barriers in health care. Patients are not as homogenous as they used to be in the past, as the United States has incorporated diverse immigrant and cultural groups and continues to attract people from around the globe. Population experts predict the United States will become a majority “minority” nation by 2050 (Johnson, 2016), which is indicative of the nation’s altering demographics. These statistics