Palliative Care Research Paper

Cultural diversity in the medical field in regards to palliative care is, at times, greatly hindered because of religious beliefs, language barriers, and the hierarchies of diverse cultures, and these have the propensity to affect the continuity of care for the patients. People from different cultures have their own perspectives on health and disease. Some cultures believe in using traditional medicine, and some believe in the healing power of praying and herbal healing. People are often affected by their own cultural beliefs when it comes to diseases, and how they can find the right cure or die with the dignity they have through the dictation of their culture. Sometimes, religion and cultural beliefs get in the way of receiving the medical
It incorporates not only the Advanced Directive of life-sustaining technology, but also shifts the clarification and protection of an individual’s health care decisions to the patient rather than from the doctor” (Giger, Davidhizar, Fordham pg 32 2006). The assessment factors that are added to the PSDA include communication, space, time, environmental control, social organization and biological variations. Within these variations, main attributes include patient autonomy that states any patient has the inherent right to make any medical decisions and should be an active participant in their own care. Also, information will be provided openly, and that the patient should have complete control over their own life and dying process. Although this is true in most cases, how the patient and the family view this truth can vary according to their cultural background. With that being said , to just assume complete cultural diversity without regards to each individual’s views within a said cultural group can be detrimental to not only the that individual, but also the healthcare team as
“Migrants may not understand what palliative care is about and may misunderstand interventions. It can also have an influence of the ability of the health care provider to interact appropriately with a patient, due to stereotyping of cultural groups, fear of making mistakes and lack of skills in cross-cultural communication” (Addington-Hall pg. 34 1995). All of these experiences and expectations of discrimination may also be an issue for some patients and their families. This can be particularly difficult in the context of palliative care as it may be perceived as hastening death. It can also have an impact on whether the patient and family are prepared to engage in advanced care planning, requiring that the service provider build the patients trust before any progress can be made. The Federally funded Translating and Interpreting Services is provided free of charge to Medicare funded patients while they are in the hospital, but state funding for this service can be quite