Culture and Healthcare
Culture has a significant impact on health care and health practices as well as health behaviors, health problems, and actions taken to promote, maintain, or restore health. Culture also influences the relationship and communication between the client and the care provider (Dossey et al., 2000).
Both the health care provider and the client bring their own unique cultural background to every encounter. For example, many cultures do not have an understanding of the primarily biological definition of disease dominant in western medicine. Instead, they may have cultural assumptions about the disease and they may believe that informing patients of the potential medical risks of certain procedures needed to treat the disease may influence the outcomes or pose a risk to their health (DiversityRx, 2003).
In addition, hospitals and health care institutions are daunting places, even for those individuals who have a health care background. If these individuals are admitted to the hospital, for example, they put their lives into the hands of physicians, nurses, and other allied health care providers. Their daily routines are disrupted. They often experience a sense of helplessness, lack of control, and fear. If the individual comes from a culture that differs from the traditional western medical culture, or if they have poor or insufficient communication skills in English, their experience may be terrifying. It is the responsibility of the health care staff to make the individual's experience as comfortable and stress-free as possible by becoming culturally competent.
It is important to obtain as much accurate information about specific cultures as possible to enhance understanding, since cultures and cultural issues are complex and dynamic. Superficial knowledge may lead to stereotyping. In addition, both the client and the health care provider may experience tension as their conflicting belief systems confront one another. Anger, fear, anxiety, or wariness may result. Nevertheless, an awareness of personal cultural biases is a beginning step in developing cross-cultural competence (DiversityRx, 2003).
