Commessay6
Intercultural Communications Essay 5
Professor Eric Aidadu
Danielle Falzarano
January, 24, 2005
Essay 1
Discuss the issues and problems that could arise in a health care setting if a physician is unaware of the cultural norms of his or her patient regarding family roles, self-disclosure or openness, and ways of speaking. The culture of women are known to be passive. A physician should examine an adult patient in private, male or female. There should not be anyone else in the room while a medical professional assess a patient especially if the patient is a woman because she may not be so prone to discuss private health information if someone else is in the room. What if the patient has an abusive spouse? Possibly being alone in an examination room will allow for the patient to speak out. Physician awareness of cultural context can dramatically effect patient’s care they receive. Communication plays such an important role in healthcare, if a physician fails to take into consideration the context of a patient’s culture they are doing the patient a disservice. Bridging the gap can give a patients a sense of hope. Struggling to bridge that gap maybe hard to take into consideration all of the patient’s culture in a short office visit, but taking the culture into consideration can clear up misunderstandings. Physicians are trained to diagnose and treat disease, but are not trained on how to deal with a patient living with disease. They have a culture all to their own they do not have a ton of experience with aided a patient cope with disease. There are certain diseases that are characteristic of different cultures. Working in the medical field has taught me Asian Americans never discuss health issues and tend to favor Western medicine more so that traditional medicine practiced in the United States. We took care of an Asian women patient diagnosed with liver cancer, that ultimately took her life. She was a carrier of a Hepatitis B
Professor Eric Aidadu
Danielle Falzarano
January, 24, 2005
Essay 1
Discuss the issues and problems that could arise in a health care setting if a physician is unaware of the cultural norms of his or her patient regarding family roles, self-disclosure or openness, and ways of speaking. The culture of women are known to be passive. A physician should examine an adult patient in private, male or female. There should not be anyone else in the room while a medical professional assess a patient especially if the patient is a woman because she may not be so prone to discuss private health information if someone else is in the room. What if the patient has an abusive spouse? Possibly being alone in an examination room will allow for the patient to speak out. Physician awareness of cultural context can dramatically effect patient’s care they receive. Communication plays such an important role in healthcare, if a physician fails to take into consideration the context of a patient’s culture they are doing the patient a disservice. Bridging the gap can give a patients a sense of hope. Struggling to bridge that gap maybe hard to take into consideration all of the patient’s culture in a short office visit, but taking the culture into consideration can clear up misunderstandings. Physicians are trained to diagnose and treat disease, but are not trained on how to deal with a patient living with disease. They have a culture all to their own they do not have a ton of experience with aided a patient cope with disease. There are certain diseases that are characteristic of different cultures. Working in the medical field has taught me Asian Americans never discuss health issues and tend to favor Western medicine more so that traditional medicine practiced in the United States. We took care of an Asian women patient diagnosed with liver cancer, that ultimately took her life. She was a carrier of a Hepatitis B