175 – 265 words
Cite at least one peer-reviewed reference
Agree, answer question, and further the conversation to the below response:
Alicia Crumb
6:09 AM
I do not believe that publicly funded health care programs should overrule cultural differences for the sake of providing a standard level of care, but I do believe that it does happen. The reason why I believe this is because at times people do not understand the culture they are dealing with, like in the Lee family’s care. The hospital was ill-equipped at the time they arrived at the hospital due to not having enough of the Huong population working within the system to understand the family and cultural beliefs. If the hospital had someone that was fluent in their language, I believe that the family may have had better care sooner due to being able to understand each other. Also, if they had an advocate sooner to assist with fighting for the family’s rights. If you look at the history of new cultures coming into the American health care system, there is a learning curve. It would be the same as us going to a foreign country seeking health care where we have never been before. A good example of a subset of American culture that is very different from other American cultures is the Amish culture which is very strong in my area but if they were to New York the health care would have to learn how to treat this culture. Many see the Amish men as abusive towards their family but in that culture, it is not. As health care professionals we must be willing to put our feelings and beliefs aside to assist and learn as many cultures as possible. The concept of culture is still very new in the healthcare field. We see it as a staple but according to Kronick, Ph.D. et al. (2016) in the late 1970s and early 1980s the concept of culture began to immerge but not until the 1990s was there a focus on cultural differences, which may sound like a long period of time but in all reality, it is less than 50 years old. The cultural differences and language barriers are getting better as this concept ages but with all changes, it takes a very long period of time to take effect. If we look at the concept of black vs white how long has that debate been affecting life, which is only 2 cultures. How long will it take for multiple completely different cultures that are just beginning to live together to take that have conflicts within themselves?
Reference
Kronick, Ph.D., R. G., Chang M.D.,M.P.H, S., & Bierman, M.D.,M.S., A. S. (2016). Improving cultural competence to reduce health disparities [Internet]. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK361125/
Textbook: Fadiman, Anne. (1998). The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures. New York, NY: Noonday Press.
