Although poverty takes a big part of it but this does not mean that health care organizations are also responsible in that they often fail to provide culturally competent health care. To provide better services, the writers believe that clinics and hospitals should give out cultural competence self test to patients, so doctors can identify areas in which they need to improve the quality of their services to culturally diverse…
Ethnicity is also a factor that should be considered when discussing health care utilization. An individual’s ethnicity determines his or her cultural…
Health care workers must realize that addressing cultural diversity goes beyond knowing the values, beliefs, practices and customs of African Americans, Asians, Hispanics/Latinos, Native Americans/Alaskan Natives, and Pacific islanders. In addition to racial classification and national origin, there are many other faces of cultural diversity. Religious affiliation, language, physical size, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability (both physical and mental), political orientation, socio-economic status, occupational status and geographical location are but a few of the faces of diversity. (Camphina-Bacote, 2003)…
Diversity is exhibited in many ways, including a multiplicity of upbringing, dress, thought, lifestyle, values, food preferences, family relationships, and in gender, ethnicity, and age. These factors exist throughout the gamut of health care patients and the interactions designed with the nurses who care for them. Diversity in healthcare refers to the cultural setting in how the patient lives and in some measure defining their connection to healing, health, and their own role in the nurse to patient relationship (University of Phoenix, 2012).…
Brach, C., & Fraserirector, I. (2000). Can cultural competency reduce racial and ethnic health disparities? a review and conceptual model. Medical Care Research and Review, 57(181), 181-217. doi: 10.1177/1077558700574009…
“The United States has become increasingly diverse in the last century. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, approximately 36 percent of the population belongs to a racial or ethnic minority group” (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015). This increase of racial and ethnic diversity in the U.S., as well as the challenge to eliminate disparities in the health status of people of diverse backgrounds, demands that we provide culturally appropriate health education and health promotion to everyone (Edelman, Kudzma, & Mandle, 2014, p.221).…
The Challenge of Serving and Working with Diverse Populations in American Hospitals. (n.d.). Cultural Diversity in Health Care. Retrieved April 26, 2012, from www.ggalanti.com…
In the United States today cultural diversity is growing more prevalent every day. The report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM: Unequal treatment, 2002) presented information that racial and ethnic minorities of all ages receive lower quality health care compared to their non-minority counterparts. Every effort should be made to stop the disparities surrounding cultural differences while attempting to understand the cultural health behaviors, increase cultural competence cultural, and increase sensitivity to cultural difference associated with the decision making process and health care preferences. Since cultural competence is a major foundation for nursing care, it is essential for health care providers to assess a patient’s identification with a particular race or ethnicity using a Heritage Assessment Tool. The tool used by this author included 29 questions used to gage a patient and families ethnic, cultural and religious heritage to determine how much the person identifies with a particular culture and traditions, which acts as a predictor in understanding their health choices and behaviors. The greater number of positive responses, the greater the person’s identification with a traditional heritage. This paper will discuss the various ways to apply findings based on a heritage assessment tool interview of an American, Hispanic and Hmong family and how the findings are both different and similar in the areas of health maintenance, health protection and health restoration.…
The United States has always been an open country with its kindness in welcoming people of other nations into it. The population of the United States is growing notably because of the migration from the rest of the world. This writer lives in Richmond, a city in the state of Virginia, a multicultural city that is heavily populated. The presence of such a population density increases the awareness of health care professionals in their ability to be receptive to other cultures. Heritage or culture is the nonphysical, inherited traits we possess and includes practice, religious beliefs, traditions, language, geographical origin, skills, and knowledge passed down through generations. Heritage assessment is an important tool in identifying and evaluating the health care needs of a person and can also be used to identify one’s behavior towards the health care system and the provider. To be professionally competent, it’s essential to know one’s own heritage prior to learning the society’s heritage. The writer is an Asian American, a native of India, coming from an extended family with 8 members. In the writer’s family, parents are the decision makers on all important matters including health.…
Health-care organizations will have to adapt quickly to meet their patients’ changing needs all while addressing health-reform requirements. In 1950, the population aged 65 and older represented 8.1 percent of the total U.S. population. That percentage is projected to reach 20.2 percent by 2050. This shift will place great demands on the nation’s health-care system. A report issued by the Institute of Medicine in 2008 found that the health-care workforce would be too small and ill equipped to meet the needs of the growing, aging population. While Latinos are the largest ethnic group, followed by African-Americans, population diversity has become more complicated, according to a two-part series, “Who We Are: Implications of the 2010 Census for Health Care” in Hospitals & Health Networks Daily. Americans have long-held beliefs that Latinos live in the Southwest and African-Americans live in the South. Cultural and religious diversity—well beyond communication barriers—is important as well. In some cultures, for example, a male physician won’t see female patients. Other cultures have complementary and alternative remedies that, when combined with traditional medicine, could have harmful consequences. Health-care providers also need to keep patients’ religious beliefs and traditions in mind. Hospitals and health systems must regularly assess their community’s makeup to accommodate specific health needs and socioeconomic circumstances. Since the census is conducted every 10 years and population makeup can change rapidly due to economic downturns or natural disasters, health-care organizations should rely on data from the American Community Survey, a mandatory annual sampling of the population conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, for their planning…
Since the perception of illness and disease and their causes varies by culture, these individual preferences affect the approaches to health care. Culture also influences how people seek health care and how they behave toward health care providers. How we care for patients and how patients respond to this care is greatly influenced by culture. Health care providers must possess the ability and knowledge to communicate and to understand health behaviors influenced by culture. Having this ability and knowledge can…
Have you ever been to the doctor and don't quite understand what the provider is telling you, or are you a healthcare worker and you don't understand your patients? Should the healthcare provider get diversity training or should they maybe learn new languages? More than ever before, healthcare professionals are subjected to dealing with a number of immense and different cultural diversities. While diversity is often a term used to refer specifically to cultural differences, diversity applies to all the qualities that make people different. Diversity requires more than knowing about individual differences and it key for overcoming cross-cultural barriers in healthcare.…
How does diversity (ethnic, social and cultural) play a role in providing patient care for your chosen profession?…
It is a well-known fact that disparities in healthcare exist among minority groups. The nursing profession, in an effort to deliver more appropriate and individualized patient care, is continually gathering data that can influence the patient’s experience. One very important arena is that of culture. Culture can be a determining factor in the care delivered, and therefore should be included in the approach to maintaining and restoring health (Barker, 2009).…
Culture and values are standards that influence and shape human behaviors, decision making processes, personal relationships, and status of health and happiness. The United States has become a symbol of a multicultural society representing many different ethnicities and minority groups. As our culture continues to grow rapidly so is the necessity to increase awareness, understanding, and tolerance of these diverse groups. As health care providers we must understand the basic needs of our patients, whether they are black, white, green or purple, and the repercussions of prejudices and cultural insensitivities. Health care providers need to become responsive to the cultural values of different peoples and how these could augment effective and humanistic care delivery (Edelman, 2010).…