Cultural factors entail the general set of traditions, beliefs, moral values, and rules of behavior which are considered common among a nation, community, or a given group of people. The cultural factors affect the perception of health, causes of illness, and causes of death and entirely affect health promotion. One of the cultural factors that affect medication is health beliefs. The health beliefs are influenced by varies factors such as social, economic factors, and current trends.
Health beliefs have an impact on medication preparation. In many instances, pediatricians understandably expect patients to comply with a given predictable format and schedule. However, patients from different ethnic groups have different beliefs, in some countries patients are expected to go to the health facility take a number and wait for the services while in other parts patients are expected to be scheduled for the service in a specific time (Omen,n.d). These people have strong beliefs on this procedure, and it’s very difficult for them to be manipulated.
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Health beliefs also have a huge influence on medication administration. The process involves providing patients with the drugs prescribed for the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of a certain illness. The influences can include the patient's belief about health care such as; what health care can do for the patients, what makes a patient seek healthcare etc. for example a patient may avoid taking a certain pain reliever for the fear that she may be addicted. Some ethnic groups have their own beliefs on how to cure and prevent some diseases. A good example is a scenario where a patient can use garlic as the herbal cure to lower blood pressure and the same time he takes antihypertensive; this may lead to blood pressure lowering too much which is dangerous. In other cases, healthcare providers differ in beliefs with their patients. A patient may boycott any treatment because he believes in the power of spiritual healing. This brings a challenge in medication administration.
Adverse effects are undesired effects that are as a result of medication and or other interventions such as surgery. Cultural beliefs may lead to dose-related adverse drug reactions; this effect usually occurs due to the high dosage of drugs (Wiley, 2010). Some people believe in herbal medicinal, which sometimes do not have the specified dosage. When overdoses are taken, it may lead to adverse effects. In other cases, the body may experience an allergic drug reaction; this is mostly caused by the body when it develops an inappropriate reaction against a drug. Most of the herbal drugs are taken culturally without physician assessment; thus, they can cause adverse effects.
Medication regimen is the number of medication and the number of doses a patient takes in medication. Health beliefs can lead to interference with the medication regime. A patient may believe in supernatural healing such as prayers which may lead to her not adhering to the medication regimen. In such cases, the physician should understand the patient and try to make him/her understand the importance of proper medication politely.
References
Engaging parents and families(n.d.) Retrieved from https://www.aap.org/en-us/professenal- resources/practice-transformation/managing-patients/pages/chapter-2.aspx
Nack Omen(n.d.)How culture influences health beliefs. Retrieved from https://www.euromedinfo.eu/how-culture-influences-health-beliefs.html/
Wiley VJ, Peterson A, Ajmera MR, Manke A, Plummer R, Cascade E. Health beliefs and their impact on medication adherence in patients with coexisting diabetes, dyslipidemia and hypertension; May 2010.Retrieved from https://www.rtihs.org/publications/health-beliefs-and-their-impact-medication-adherence-patients-coexisting-diabetes
