Institute:Office of National Coordinator (ONC) Workforce Training Curriculum
Component:The Culture of Health Care
Unit:An Overview of the Culture of Health Care
Lecture:What is meant by "the culture of health care"
Slide content:Culture of Patients Impact of patient s culture: inequities in care Language, Concepts, Models of Illness Cultural competence, culturally sensitive care Specific cultures and our health care system Geographic: SE Asian Religious: Christian Science, Islam Language: Spanish, Telugu Ethnic: Romani, Turkic, Ukrainian Special groups: deaf culture, street culture, adolescent culture 15
Slide notes:When we talk about the culture of patients, most of the contemporary literature discusses either problems with the inequities in health care received by persons of specific cultures, or the need to understand and adjust to the beliefs and values of specific cultures whose members encounter the health care system. Inequities in health care are the result not only of social economic factors which make health care less accessible, but also the result of differences in language and the concepts and models of illness. Individuals dealing with our health care system who come from another culture and speak another language have a potential problem of understanding that reaches deeper than just language. In many cases, their concepts of illness and the cause of diseases are fundamentally different, so the translation of language alone is not sufficient. These differences can mean that clinicians may not understand the patient and the patient may not understand the clinician, with the result that the appropriateness or effectiveness of care may be threatened. Much is being written about cultural competence and the need for culturally sensitive care. Large organizations such as health care systems must train their workforce in order to deliver appropriate and culturally sensitive care to all who present themselves. Modern urban hospitals amid the great cultural diversity of cities are not the only institutions that must address these issues. Many small or critical access hospitals and small clinics in rural areas are also likely to encounter significant cultural diversity in their patient and workforce populations, although the resources available to address these may be fewer. There are many categories of these differences and cultural variations that can lead to problems with effective communication and appropriate care. Some are based on geography, such as Southeast Asian; some are based on religious differences such as Christian Science or Islam; others are based on differences of language such as spoken Spanish (including geographic variations in Spanish), or Telugu [ tel -uh-goo]; or ethnic or cultural differences such as the Romany [ rawm -uh-nee] (or Gypsy) Turkic, or Ukrainian people; and there are also other special groups whose beliefs and values must be considered, such as deaf culture, street culture, adolescent culture, and the like. 15