Culture diversity in healthcare



Culture diversity in healthcare

Introduction

In today's times, we reside in a multicultural world. Thus, it becomes an absolute requirement to be aware of the cultural sensitivities in the healthcare setting. In addition, it is imperative to acknowledge this cultural diversity in order to provide quality care to patients. The culturally competent care is able to adapt to quality care interventions in view of the cultural needs and preferences, comprising of religious and ethnic beliefs, values, and practices, according to the diversified patients. Even though, it may sound extremely complex, and a time consuming approach, it is a significantly rewarding experience professionally. It further facilitates you, as a healthcare professional, to perform better and provide the utmost quality care. By understanding and acknowledging the culture diversity, healthcare professionals are able to provide an effective and practical approach in dealing with the particular needs of all patients coming from different and diverse cultures (Jessamy, 2012).

Discussion

What is Cultural diversity?

According to a report published in Publish Health Reports of 2003, Joseph R. Betancourt states that healthcare workers require efficient skills at clinical practice in order to deal with the wide array of diversity in linguistic, cultural, and social experiences of their patients. Existing cultural diversity affects the interactions between the healthcare providers and the patients and its quality. The diversity of the patients can significantly alter their ability to discuss their symptoms, compliance with the treatment plan, or beliefs of the patient about the respect, which the healthcare providers and the healthcare system provide him, according to the United States Agency for the International Development (Dyches, 2013).

The Elements of Cultural diversity

Cultural diversity defined a different meaning to every person. The continuously evolving demographics and economics of our multicultural worlds, as well as the long-standing inconsistencies developed in the health status of our community, coming from diverse backgrounds, challenged the health care providers and organizations to put cultural diversity as their top priority. Nonetheless, health care providers and organization needs to realize that cultural diversity nowadays goes beyond some of the over difference like values, practices, beliefs and customs. Apart from the ethnic origin and racial classification, there are various other faces of cultural diversity, such as religious affiliations, gender, sexual orientation, language they speak, physical characteristics, age, mental or physical disability, political orientation, occupational and socio-economic status, and geographical location. Health care providers should be able to address and efficiently communicate with all the possible scenarios. Health care providers should be trained so that they can provide effective care in cross-cultural situations while dealing with patients, or their family and friends. The aim of the training should be to improve communication, as well as, acknowledge the differences and develop skill in accordance to provide the same level of quality care for all patients equally (Campinha-Bacote, 2003).

Considerations at Training

Clinicians and nurses should be able to include sensitivity, active listening, and negotiation skills while communication with cross-cultural patients. The most essential tool is sensitivity required by the clinicians while inquiring ...