As a healthcare administrator, I feel that culture has an indispensable implication on healthcare that both healthcare practitioners and patients must understand. Because healthcare practitioners are trained and embrace expertise, the challenge predominantly is on the need to sensitize patients on the need to embrace contemporary medical practices. I feel the impetus is on healthcare practitioners to address possible challenges emanating from cultural differences and their implications on patients. Cultural competency is a critical aspect of healthcare provision because of the evident diversity among nations and communities, globally. The delivery of culturally competent care should be considerate of the social and cultural diversity.
I feel the case of Lia Lee and its depiction of the differences between American and Hmong medical systems is a challenge to a significant number of healthcare practitioners. Lee’s parents’ perception about her conditions as a blessing to the family was an absolute difference from the doctors’ knowledge of epilepsy that prompted them to put her on foster care. In light of these, differences and their cause of misunderstandings between healthcare practitioners and patients, especially from racial and ethnic minorities. I feel it is important that healthcare professionals understand the inherent values of every individual to foster a good patient-provider relationship that aid in providing quality care. The beliefs of patients are important to the full provision of quality care.
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Different cultural values and beliefs influence the quality of care granted to patients both preventive services, during diagnosis, in treatment and in the management of chronic conditions. It, therefore, addresses a fundamental concern of access to healthcare services. Another challenge I feel should be a subject of concern to healthcare professions is language and communication barriers. In the case of Lee, the language barrier was a notable factor that presented a challenge of effective communication between the doctors and Lee’s parents because of the lack of interpreters. As a healthcare administrator, I feel that the concern of language barrier should be addressed to enhance access to healthcare.
