Importance+of+understanding+different+death+beliefs+in+Hospital+setting+and+emergency+service

Name: King Hang Chan Student Name: 07486502 Tutor's Name: Michelle Newcomb

=Cultural Artefact= media type="youtube" key="dNLtAj0wy6I" height="314" width="415"

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Basically, this is a video showing the importance of cultural competence for health services, such as hospital and emergency services. Sometimes, some problems would exist when dealing with patients have different cultural background. The most significant issue is language problem just like the case shown in the video. A Spanish patient who doesn't know English could not express his situation to the healthcare providers, therefore the nurses and doctors could not perform any treatment on him. However, when related measures were applied, the communication between patient and the nurses was enhanced. These kinds of problems could happen frequently especially in a country which has a diverse culture. ======

= Public health issues =

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The artefact presents the situation of cultural differences in health related services. It is not only just a single issue, but also a complex subject. Language is just one of the key focuses, the impact of treatments, attitude in communication, tribal traditions, spiritual practices and cultural background are other essential concerns. (Johnson, 2010). It is important to understand, respect and more importantly, to overcome the barriers in order to support patients from different background. In a culturally diverse country like Australia, it combines Indian, Chinese, Muslim, African, other Asian and European migrants group. As a result, it is crucial to identify the characters of belief among those migrants groups. ======

= Literature Review =

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There are a lot recent researches did address'Unattended to, cultural differences between doctors and patients may result in conflict, decreased patient satisfaction, misdiagnosis, or suboptimal outcomes.' (Carrese & Rhodes, 2000). The authors brought out the main concern of cultural differences in hospital setting. The researchers took Navajo patients as the target interviewees in order to study their attitude towards negative information discussion. Although the research just focused on a single group of Navajo people, the result could represent the situations of other cultural groups. The perception of medical approaches of Navajo people are differ from the major groups of people in the United States, especially in advances care planning discussion. Navajo patients consider such discussions is an infringement to the traditional belief. (Carrese & Rhodes, 2000). Researchers chose qualitative methodology which include in-depth interviews approach to obtain values from the participants. The authors identified few stages when communicating with patients from different cultural background, which are assessment, preparation, communication and follow-through. Basically, these stages illustrate that no assumption of beliefs should be made when dealing with patients from various cultural groups. ======

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The limitation of this research is the amount of participants were very small, therefore judges should be make carefully when focusing on people apart from the informants; which means the results might not be very representative. Also, the strategies proposed aren't evidence based, so they need further evaluation. ======

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Another research presents the cultural diversity in health care services. The two major barriers of the delivery of health care are found to be languages and cultural values. (Toms, Hodge & Smith, 2000). When providing health services to different ethnic groups of client, the two barriers would obstruct effective deliveries of health care services. The research also included the opinion of clients towards health care services in USA. The participants expressed that health department 'lacks of on-going training to address cultural diversity issues'. (Toms, Hodge & Smith, 2000). The reason of causing such feeling possibly is 'health providers appear to maintain a strong belief in equality, sameness, and equal treatment.' (Toms, Hodge & Smith, 2000). Health care providers in America are possibly insensitive and do not realize different approaches are required when working with cultural diverse patients. They tend to minimize the differences between cultural groups which leads to incomplete services to clients who have various beliefs. As a result, some actions were suggested in the article. The most noteworthy strategies about cultural differences are marketing and training. To market services to different cultural groups through communities helps develop competent services. This act could raise the attention of ethnic groups to local health care services which let them think they are not ignored. The other strategy is training; training staff to develop a general understanding of, and empathy for the diverse culture population. ======

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Communication was also described as a racial inequality in a journal article. The article highlighted the minority ethnic group of African-American has a significantly greater proportion of morbidity and mortality compare to the majority, which is the American. (Kreps, 2006). The main cause of the inequality in health problems was thought to be communication. Particularly in cancer related diseases, a link of services have to be provided for patients, including screening, diagnosis, treatment, survivorship and end of life. (Viswanath, 2005); therefore interpersonal communication is very important in cancer cases. For instance, health care providers have to work with patients to develop the most appropriate way of treatment. (Kreps, 2006). Knowing that various migrants groups have their own belief and even languages, the communication between these groups of clients and health care providers become critically influential. ======

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Furthermore, there are always existence of cultural differences problems in hospital setting. An article reported that there are three major concerns when handling clients from minor migrants group with some examples. Obviously language is the first priority, a Spanish-speaking patient came to the emergency room in California with great distress, but was unable to tell the doctor his symptoms,without a translator, the doctor likely wouldn't have gotten the information he needed to treat the man in a timely manner and he could have died. The impact of treatment also can be varied between cultural groups. An immigrant with Latino culture background has severe infection, was told to take antibiotics. But the patient opened the pills up one by one and put them in a cloth poultice which was then rubbed into the wound on her leg. It can be seen that the misunderstanding of treatment can lead to improper care. (Johnson, 2010). Also, ' Asian women were often reluctant or ashamed to express their needs or inquire about services. (Hoang, 2008).' As a result, it is important for health workers to gain knowledge of different culture's beliefs and practices. ======

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In conclusion, numbers of research and articles had identified that cultural barriers could lead to inefficient services to minority cultural groups. Languages, distinct beliefs and attitudes are the major issues needed to be concerned. Appropriate strategies are essential to improve the care of diverse cultural groups. ======

= Cultural and Social analysis =

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The disparity of health care would be the consequence of insufficient awareness of cultural differences. Minority groups in the United States such as Blacks, Hispanics and Asian often receive lower quality support in health services; as well as some researches showed that minority groups would be willing to receive care services from physicians from the same ethnicity. (Saha, Arbelaez & Cooper, 2003). These evidences represented that health care services are not broad and precise enough to cover all migrant groups of patients. Furthermore, minority clients seem to have a higher ratio of refusal of treatment. (Nelson, 2002). The disparity among can be directly determined by the facts. ======

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The minority groups would face a decline of health status if no improvement of health care made. A report stated that 'many racial and ethnic minorities and persons of lower socioeconomic position are less likely to receive recommended immunizations for influenza and pneumococcal pneumonia'. (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2003). This is one of the examples that minorities would experience, which can lead to nonidentical health condition between the major and minor cultural groups. People who come from other cultural groups with different languages, beliefs would all share the same possibility of experiencing the inequality of health care. ======

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In Australia, the state of multicultural diversity has a rising trend. The percentage of overseas born people in Australia had increased almost 10% from 1991 to 2001; also, people from non-English background had risen approximately 9% in 10 years. (The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, 2007). This trend pointed out the importance of providing care to various migrant groups. Cultural competence of health services in Australia become a crucial step to elevate the awareness of minorities. Not only the access of health care of migrants group can be enhanced, but also the public image by delivering cultural competence health care. (Stewart, 2006). If the health competence has approached, the unity of the society might be boosted, as well as the health status. The possible reason is everyone in the society including migrants groups and the natives, they share the same quality of health care services. Also, appropriate supports to the minority groups help reduce preventable hospitalization rates and enhance their satisfaction. (Stewart, 2006). Clearly, increased support to different groups of patients has meaningful benefits to the the whole society and overall health status. ======

= ANALYSIS OF THE ARTEFACT AND YOUR OWN LEARNING REFLECTIONS =

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The video in the artefact section does have a general coverage on the issue of cultural differences in hospital settings and health care services. The video pointed out the example of what health care providers may experience when working with diverse population. The failure of communication with patients who speak different languages can directly resulted in no diagnosis be done. The Spanish patient in the video, who can't speak in English had difficulties to express his pain and symptom to the nurses; therefore the workers had no clue to solve the problems. However, actions were approached to counter the weakness of dealing with patients from distinctive backgrounds, such as interpreters are employed to translate the expression from the patient to the doctors. The Spanish patient finally received suitable treatment and satisfied. ======

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The issue above is a very inspirational topic, it helps me to broaden the insight in health care services. Although the workplace has one dimension culture, it is necessary to acquire multicultural senses. The reason is health services always expose to diverse cultural groups of patients, especially in Australia. A certain knowledge on the major migrant groups helps provide equity care to the population. Besides, the study on this issue encourages me to broader my mind in future learning and thinking, there are always more than you expected even something has discovered and completed. Also, every details of a subject should not be ignored as they always have their weight. ======

=References list= Carrese, J. A., Rhodes, L.A. (2000). Bridging cultural differences in medical practice. //Journal of General Internal Medicine,//15(2), 92-96. doi: 10.1046/j.1525- 1497.2000.03399.x

Hoang, H. (2008). Language and cultural barriers of Asian migrants in accessing maternal care in Australia. //The International Journal of Language Society and Culture//, 26, 55-61. Retrieved from http://www.educ.utas.edu.au/users/tle/JOURNAL/issues/2008/26-6.pdf

Johnson, A. (2010). Understanding cultural differences in the hospital. Retrieved from http://www.minotdailynews.com/page/content.detail/id/541127/Understanding-cultural-differences-in-the-hospital.html?nav=5005

Kreps, G. L. (2006). Communication and racial inequities in health care. //American Behavioral Scientist //, 49(6), 760-774. doi: 10.1177/0002764205283800

Nelson, A. (2002). Unequal treatment: confronting racial and ethnic disparities in health care. //Journal Of The National Medical Association,//94(8), 666-668. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2594273/pdf/jnma00325-0024.pdf

Saha, S., Arbelaez, J. J., Cooper, L. A. (2003). Patient–physician relationships and racial disparities in the quality of health care. //American Journal of Public Health,//93(10), 1713-1719. Retrieved from http://ajph.aphapublications.org/cgi/content/full/93/10/1713

Stewart, S. (2006). Cultural competence in health care. Retrieved from http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=Cultural%2520competence%2520in%2520health%2520care%2520sarah%2520stewart&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CB0QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dhi.gov.au%2FArticleDocuments%2F511%2FCultural%2520competence.pdf.aspx&ei=I_WxTsrnEcaPiAfe8J3nAg&usg=AFQjCNFDAJ7JpbLvONCyO1x7z0sFfBiToA&sig2=WiL2IKtBTRL8H1bNv6l_iA

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners. (2007). Multicultural health. Retrieved from http://www.racgp.org.au/scriptcontent/curriculum/pdf/multiculturalhealth.pdf

Tom, F. D., Hodge, F. S., Smith, B. P. (1998). Cultural diversity and the delivery of health care services. //Cancer//, 83(8), 1843-1848. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)10970142(19981015)83:8+<1843::AID-CNCR36>3.0.CO;2-G

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, (2003). National Healthcare Disparities Report. Retrieved from http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/nhdr03/nhdrsum03.htm#Disparities

Viswanath, K. (2005). The communications revolution and cancer control. //Nature Reviews Cancer//, 5 , 828-835. doi: <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">10.1038/nrc1718

=<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Reflective comments on others work =

'Are you living your life, or are you living someone else's life?' Gen Y and Body Dissatisfaction' - Kristopher Ng

Hi Kris, the topic you worked on was really detailed, such as the statistics you pointed out. The information are very convincing. Besides, the analysis is great as well. You analysis of the theory from Weber is precise in my point of view. Apart from the work you have done, I do feel a lot from the topic you chose, because i did have experience of the illness of not satisfying my appearance. About 2 years ago, I suffered from kind of a eating disorder; I always worry eating too much which could make me look fat. Therefore, your topic interest me to have further reading. Cheers