Acute illnesses which progress to the chronic stage are usually accompanied by pain. Pain can also be experienced through body dysfunction for the elderly. Seriously-ill patients experience pain which can be caused by factors related to the medication administered and indirect causes such as the family perception of the situation. Lack of understanding of the patient’s as well as their family’s cultural beliefs can result in death-threatening effects to the patient. Therefore, “living in an ethnically and culturally diverse society requires the healthcare personnel to understand, respect, and take into account the particular cultures their patients come from” (Givler & Maani-Fogelman, 2019). Palliative and hospice care for the seriously-ill patients, the elderly and the dying receives different kinds of handling in different cultures. For example, the American and Asian cultures differ regarding the administration of palliative and hospice care. The following paragraphs discuss the role of culture, family and healthcare providers regarding the caring of the critically-ill patients and the elderly.
A patient at their sick beds requires hospice or end-of-life palliative care to mitigate the pain they go through. Most of the people who die out of diseases or old age usually go through pain before dying as it is a primary symptom of many diseases. As much as half of those dying experience moderate to severe pain in their last stages of life (Givler & Maani-Fogelman, 2019). In America, most of the patients diagnosed with illnesses such as cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are afforded palliative care at least for the semi-acute stages of the conditions. When the diseases advance to the chronic and dying stages, the patients are provided with hospice or end-of-life palliative care. During palliative care, the family is mostly involved in the patient’s day to day wellbeing. Most of the American families like being informed of every medical stage their patient is going through, after which some even take the responsibility of taking all the care required by their patient other than medication. They believe that the result of such care is depended on the patient as well as the family’s relation to them. According to Schulz and Eden (2016), the health impact of caregiving is individual and dependent on the patient’s and family’s perception of the situation.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Most of the families in modern society believe that they should care for the elderly, especially one’s parents. Different perceptions of how the elderly who are nearing death should be handled exist across different cultures. In America, the older adults are expected to live comfortably out of care provided to them by the healthy, especially younger family members. However, it is not a must for the caregiver to be financially-stable to cater for the elderly’s needs. The society expects one to offer anything they have from emotional support and social advice to assistance with household tasks. However, emotional and social support is the most commendable roles of American families’ caregivers, especially for the elderly who need no medical care. Other roles for elderly caregivers include the provision of health and medical care assistance. In the contemporary American as well as most other societies, “older adult’s homes have become de facto clinical care settings where caregivers provide nursing or medical tasks once provided only by licensed or certified professionals in hospitals and nursing homes” (Schulz & Eden, 2016). Therefore, the health of the elderly is being administered to them from the comfort of their homes while ensuring a personal bond with the rest of the family members.
Different cultural beliefs affect the approach to a dying person and their families either positively or negatively. Most of the contemporary societies engage cultural beliefs to situations of their sick patients in believing that they will surprisingly recover or pass on peacefully. For example, the Kenyan culture demands the application of hospice and end-of-life palliative care for dying patients. According to cultural beliefs, one has to stay calm and focus on ensuring the recovery of the patient. Sometimes prayer accompanies the medical attention being given to the dying patient. However, most of the current Kenyan cultural beliefs regarding such a situation do not involve ritual ceremonies which could interfere with time or efficiency of providing critical medical care to the dying patient. Although some people may practice rituals for such a situation, most of the Kenyan cultural beliefs give medical attention a higher priority than cultural traditions in testing the possibilities of a positive outcome. Most of the cultural beliefs do not prevent the doctors from proceeding to what they deem necessary for the dying patient’s recovery.
As Gire (2014) puts it, “Regardless of how or where we are born, what unites people of all cultures is the fact that everyone eventually dies”. For that reason, there exists expected roles for every member of the society to play when death strikes. For instance, the Kenyan culture allows people to mourn the departure of their loved ones and try to make their spirits as comfortable as possible. Relatives and friends are expected to come and mourn together with the family of the departed to offer them emotional and social support among other kinds of assistance. The culture allows one to grief openly (Givler & Maani-Fogelman, 2019), indicating their discomfort, loneliness, and value for the dead. In so doing, it is believed that the spirits of the dead feel recognized as part of the family.
It is apparent that death is caused by several factors including diseases and old age. Before departure, a significant number of the victims are believed to experience pain. The pain is managed through medical care and social and emotional support. The family and the medical institutions are the essential caregivers for a person in pain. They do all they can to prevent extended suffering and potential death from the pain situation. Different cultures influence the approaches made to dying people and their families either positively or negatively. For example, denying a dying person medication due to the belief that their suffering could be got rid of by a ritual ceremony could prove dangerous to the victim’s life. Most of the contemporary societies are adopting modernized treatment and refraining from some cultural beliefs which have proven unsuccessful in the past.
References
Gire, J. (2014). “How Death Imitates Life: Cultural Influences on Conceptions of Death and Dying”. Online Readings in Psychology and Culture, 6 (2).
Givler, A., & Maani-Fogelman, A. P. (2019, March 15). The Importance Of Cultural Competence in Pain and Palliative Care . Retrieved April 20, 2019, from NCBI Bookshelf: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK493154/
Schulz, R., & Eden, J. (2016). Family Caregiving Roles and Impacts. In R. Schulz, Families Caring for an Aging America . Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
