Cultural barriers experienced in healthcare.

Cultural barriers experienced in healthcare.

Language Barrier

· Healthcare practitioners interact with people from diverse backgrounds

· Globalization has made it possible for people to travel globally

· English is not always the first language for many people especially immigrants

· The language barrier often results in miscommunication or complete lack of communication (Goenka, 2016)

· Ultimately, having a linguistic interpreter as well as a sign language expert present would be sufficient in the resolution of miscommunication and the language barrier (Squires, 2018).

Cultural Incompetence

· Cultural competence involves having an understanding of the diversity of the cultural practices of people from diverse backgrounds

· Cultural competence provides the opportunity for healthcare practitioners to grasp the relevance of cultural practices for some patients (Shen, 2015).

· In some cases, cultural practices will forbid the use of modern scientific medicine

· It is imperative for the healthcare professionals to understand that while patients may refuse scientific medicine, alternatives may be recommended

· Training and the nurturing of cultural competence is subject to reduce the levels of conflict between the healthcare providers and the patients (Jongen et al., 2018).

Cultural Religious Beliefs

· The cultural religious beliefs of people are bound to have an impact on their decision-making concerning scientific treatment

· The cultural-religiousmay impact factors such as the preferred gender of their healthcare providers, the medication with consideration of whether they contain animal products, and even issues of diet.

· The cultural-religious beliefs may also stand opposed to various approaches to medical practices such as blood transfusion (Taylor, 2019)

· Understanding the diversity of the beliefs held by people, it is imperative to practice cultural sensitivity.

· In a majority of the cases, modern medicine has developed alternatives that may be considered by the groups that may be limited by their cultural religions (Palmer et al., 2020).

References

Goenka, P. K. (2016). Lost in translation: impact of language barriers on children's healthcare. Current Opinion in Pediatrics, 28(5), 659-666.

Jongen, C., McCalman, J., & Bainbridge, R. (2018). Health workforce cultural competency interventions: a systematic scoping review. BMC health services research, 18(1), 1-15.

Palmer Kelly, E., Hyer, M., Payne, N., & Pawlik, T. M. (2020). A mixed-methods approach to understanding the role of religion and spirituality in healthcare provider well-being. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 12(4), 487.

Shen, Z. (2015). Cultural competence models and cultural competence assessment instruments in nursing: a literature review. Journal of transcultural nursing, 26(3), 308-321.

Squires, A. (2018). Strategies for overcoming language barriers in healthcare. Nursing management, 49(4), 20.

Taylor, E. J. (2019). Health Outcomes of Religious and Spiritual Belief, Behavior, and Belonging: Implications for Healthcare Professionals. In Spirituality in Healthcare: Perspectives for Innovative Practice (pp. 67-82). Springer, Cham.