Cultural Biases In Patients

The items addressed this week really struck me in ways that I was uncomfortable with. I was taken back by how many different biases there were about different cultures and how they affected the way clinicians could think. When I did all of my observation hours over the past four years, I never had any biases towards any of our patients. We saw a number of patients that were from other cultures or who were involved in the LGBT community and I never looked at or treated them any differently than any of our other patients. Though I felt so strongly against biases, there were several therapists I worked with that had biases towards certain cultures. For our generation, I feel as though I was raised to not look at anyone else differently and that we are all the same person. I have had struggles in the past trying to convey that to other people because I feel very strongly that it is nonsense to view someone differently according to the way they speak, their skin color, or their choices on who they love.
After reading about all of these, I came to the conclusion that I would address them, by not addressing them. If I ever came in on a situation that I was uncomfortable with, I would set my biases aside and continue on with the care for the patient. It is very important to me that there is mutual respect for each individual. I hold myself to the upmost standard when it comes to the health profession and it is my professional duty to treat each patient the same and focus on what it takes to get them back to their normal lifestyles, and to not dwell on cultures or