who+is+it+up+too?+us+or+them

Brady Copson n8331324 katie page




 * Artefact**

The artefact presented here is a picture from an article on cross cultural mis-understandings. The picture explains an experience the woman had with a co-worker from fiji. Often the woman would touch the fijian mans long curly hair and always compliment on how soft and nice it was to touch. Later on the woman discovered that in this mans culture, only the chief of the tribe he belonged to was aloud to touch another persons head. This is just one example of what is happening not only in Australia but around the world.

**Cultural health issue** Culture, its what defines us as who we are. Rituals, beliefs, religion, customs, these are the social elements which makes us who we are. Its what creates the stereo-types for nations, and creates a pathway which leads us through life, affects the choices we make and how we live our everyday lives. Although each culture is so unique and one of our biggest attributes, it can also lead to be one of our biggest weaknesses. With a population of almost 23,000,000 people. Australia has a huge influx in regards to those from other countries. Between 2009 and 2010, approximately 215,600 people migrated to Australia, a figure which is estimated to be around 57% of the population growth over the course of a year ( Australian bureau of statistics,2011). With an ever increasing multicultural population, what barriers are created due to cultural differences? The purpose of this report is to research literature and social views on the topic of how How Culturally ‘Clued-In’ are our Primary and Emergency Service Providers when it comes to Sex, Pain, and Death?

**Literature review** The issue isn’t that our health professionals are not taught how to deal and treat patients, of different ethnic backgrounds, it is that the guidelines of the client -physician training program, are focused on middle to high society western cultures(Martinez & Savin,2006). Our health professionals not only rely on previous experience, but they depend on the education which they have obtained as well as the personal and and professional understanding when faced with issues regarding cross cultural boundaries.(McNamara, Martin, Waddell & Yuen,1997). The problem can be brought down Many research articles have been done on this topic, exploring boundaries and issues that may arise with in the healthcare system. As the nations population grows every day, so does the diversity of its people. As the issue prevails inevitable, schemes are needed to accommodate those with individual needs and standards. Because of this, a large scaled change has been seen over the last decade. Educators from Western culture see the issue of cultural conflicts in the health care system, and have been developing cross cultural frameworks and understand the importance to integrate education on cultural differences into the students curriculum. The focus of this will be exploring, culture, race, behaviour, language and social status. The goal is by incorporating these elements into health and medical students studies, it will obviate barriers that arise between doctor and patient (Tervalon, 2003).This approach has been implemented in North America in particular, but many authors agree, that it has been a struggle incorporating the necessary teachings into an already full curricular. Because of this it has not been a 100 % success with all colleges being able to apply the teachings into the courses but are pushing for it as it is imperative to do so in our worlds multi-cultural state it is in today. On a national scale, Australia is seeing more and more people migrating from a wider range of countries. A lot of people come here as they see Australia as a safe haven, they see a peaceful country with no wars, no political dictators and a country where you have the right to be you. Because of this our nation now has large populations of small minorities living with in it. But a lot of the time when dealing with cultural issues, these minorities seem to take preference over another group of people that have been living here for thousands of years, and struggle with the way our health systems provide assistance to them. Indigenous and non-indeginous people have shared this land for the last few centuries, yet it is our aboriginal and Torres-straight islander communities that still seem so different to us. One of the biggest problems that indigenous people have is their belief of spirituality. Aboriginals believe that the land does not belong to them but they belong to the land, and are spiritually connected via past elders and descendants. In a study done by Matharu (2009),  on indigenous culture and healthcare, the author of this piece of literature, writes about the problems that the indigenous communities face, Not only with access to support, but the way the healthcare professionals approach and handle patients. Firstly, the aboriginal community makes up approximately 2.5 % of the Australian population, with only .03 %being Torres-straight. Multiple factors make up the lack of access to the medical facilities and services. Due to many rural communities traditional ceremonies are done when dealing with illness. As mentioned above traditional Indigenous communities are very spiritual and when dealing with major health issues, rather then going to see a medical professional, a tribal witch doctor is used and natural remedies and medicine is used to help. For those who do not survive, because education on illnesses are not known amongst these traditional tribes, the death is seen as part of their natural life, and that their death was meant to be. Other problems that are encountered is access to medical help. For those who live in rural communities 50% do not own motor vehicles, compared to 20% not owning a vehicle in non-rural areas. In rural areas in particular this can cause a large problem as medical centres or assistance can up to a thousand kilometres away. How ever it wasn’t until the 1970's when indigenous people were allowed to administer health care and assistnace. Before this members of rural indigenous communities were provided with little help from government, so in order to combat this, communities took action to help those in need. Indigenous groups set up critical outpost stations,to cater for those who needed medical advice and culturally sensitive care.

**Cultural and Social analysis** In a discussion on the previous assessment piece on this topic, the question of should we acknowledge their cultural norms or should they acknowledge ours was brought to my attention. This question causes a lot of debate as either way you look at it issues arise from it. Culture is what defies us, it makes us who we are it guides us through life, but it also creates barriers between us and different cultures. For many undeveloped countries, the social world they live in is completely different to ours. In a society were a hierarchy exists professionals of their field are viewed as highly regarded members of society and more then often are given given an authority higher then the equivalent professional living in western society (Savin & Martinez, 2006). It's issues like this that can cause conflict between two cultures. So where is the line drawn, which beliefs and values are welcome in a different society and which must go? This is a problem that our health professionals are faced with everyday. Education is being provided to undergraduates, but how much is enough? The problem isn’t just that health students and professionals are not aware of these barriers, the issue is when do we stop? Is it up to us to know every single cultural difference between people, or is it up to them to point it out? In todays society, more then just readings and literature is needed to be taught in order to understand and communicate with different cultures. Many of the western communities have clued on about this problem and are combatting it by setting up medical exchange programmes. In a reflective journal by lamiani (2008), a framework of an exchange program is presented with a medical student from Italy going over to America and vice versa, the report gave feed back on learning how to deal and interact with the patients, first hand. Both the parties were given the same scenario and were to interpret it and exchange ideas. The program was designed so that practitioners could identify there so called “blind spots”. The results showed that the A major difference in interpretation was found between not only psychological but physical boundaries of the patient as well. This was evident in the biggest difference in regards to the treatment from the two physicians. When the italian physician dealt with patients, he steered away from physical examination of the body, and was more concerned and respectful in regards to the experience with the illness of the patient, where as the American physician was the complete opposite and mainly focused on the physical illness. This is jus a small example of the problems that our health professionals are faced with. Both physicians were given the same scenario but different views and practices lead to different results.

**Analysis of artefact** <span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">People must cater to other cultural needs and abide by their social norms. However a problem we are faced with, is how do we interoperate others norms? Is it up to us to find out, or should they let us know? The reason I chose the artefact above is because to me it is a perfect example of what issues can arise when two cultures come together. It shows how a small thing of touching someones hair can have a deep meaning to another's culture. This cultural norm represents barriers between two different people. And with such a diverse nation it is reasons like this that our health care systems must acknowledge and understand that not all people in Australia will have the same values. This was one of the more interesting pieces of assessment pieces that I have done. It gave me the chance to look at the issues that not only does our world face but our nation in particular. With aboriginal heritage as well it was interesting to read and explore more of their cultural ways of life and how they interpret and handle issues compared to non indigenous Australians. Like most of us we have all had encounters with people from other cultures whether it be at school, work or seeking medical help, a different approach will be taken when having to interact, and a bit more consideration, and understanding that although we live in the same country, we may not share the same values and beliefs.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">**Reference list** <span style="color: #262626; font-family: ArialMT,sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Savin, Daniel (2006). "Cross-cultural Boundary Dilemmas: A Graded-risk Assessment Approach". //Transcultural psychiatry//, 43 (2), p. 243

<span style="color: #262626; font-family: ArialMT,sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Tervalon, Melanie (2003). "Components of culture in health for medical students' education". //Academic medicine//, 78 (6), p. 570

<span style="color: #262626; font-family: ArialMT,sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Matharu, K 2009). "Using Indigenous Australian drama to break cultural barriers in healthcare relationships". //Medical humanities//, 35 (1), p. 47

<span style="color: #262626; font-family: ArialMT,sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Lamiani, Giulia (2008). "Cultural competency in healthcare: learning across boundaries". //Patient education and counseling//, 73 (2), p. 396

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