The significance of cultural competence in healthcare continues to gain great recognition in the literature and academic forum. As diversity in the society continues to amplify, the need for surgeons to relate with clientele from all backgrounds is critical. Essentially, the idea of cultural competency focus on the comprehension of the specific cultural, economic, social, and linguistic nuances of people and their communities. Cultural competence in health care refers to the acknowledgment of culturally influenced incidence, health beliefs and behaviors, disparities, and disease prevalence within a specific population of patients.
The responsibility of surgical assistants in the operating room is to assist the surgical team. Among their responsibilities include applying dressings, providing patients with pre and post-operative care, sterilizing the operation site and equipment, record keeping, as well as handling phones. Similar to the rest of the health practitioners, surgical assistants are required to uphold cultural competence to ensure excellent patient care.
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According to Brunett & Shingles (2018), s urgical assistants should acknowledge the importance of cultural diversity in healthcare. For that reason, they are required to serve all people with respect and equality despite their ethnicity or race. Recognizing culture requires flexibility and open-mindedness to allow one to learn and blend easily in the patients’ culture. Therefore, to ensure that they get along with the patients and built a strong relationship that would enhance the wellbeing of the patient, it is essential for the assistants to be patient and avoid being judgmental. Surgical assistants are required to be objective in their decisions, thus not using their bias to make conclusions. For instance, Christian Surgical assistants should be willing to understand that Muslim patients have varied religions and beliefs. For that reason, they need to incorporate religious and cultural differences in their decisions to ensure that they are not biased.
Expanding cultural knowledge is crucial among surgical assistance, especially in a diverse world. Interacting with individuals from various cultures helps practitioners learn how people from different cultural backgrounds tend to behave and believe. Understanding the cultural values and beliefs helps practitioners understand the best way to deal and communicate with the patients. Sometimes, learning different languages can be essential to enhance communication and interaction between the practitioner and patients. Sometimes, communication barriers can hinder relationship building between the practitioner and patients. For instance, when working in a local area where people do not understand English, understanding the local language can easily help to promote quality service provision.
Technically, culturally competent surgical practitioners provide culturally competent services where all patients are served with equality and fairness ( Brunett & Shingles, 2018) . This is from the way they hand their patients while preparing them for the surgery, getting the tools ready, and even communicating. Cultural competence requires that all patients be treated respectively despite their difference in color, social class, language, and even sex. Cultural competence is an excellent way to promote cultural diversity in healthcare.
Conclusively, cultural competence among the surgical practitioners is in the same magnitude and degree as the rest of the health care service providers. Generally, they are required to uphold respect, fairness, and equality while serving their patients. The recognition and appreciation of cultural differences allow practitioners to get along with others more easily and, at the same time, offer the best healthcare services. Diversity in people should not be a base for poor service provision among caregivers.
References
Brunett, M., & Shingles, R. R. (2018). Does Having a Culturally Competent Health Care Provider Affect the Patients’ Experience or Satisfaction? A Critically Appraised Topic. Journal of sport rehabilitation , 27 (3), 284-288.
