Health Care Culture

Culture is difficult when treating a patient. Coming from a Mexican background it is sometimes difficult hearing the many medical misconceptions. Many times poor health can be chalked up to the will of God. In Mexico, there is a large drug problem with cartels instilling fear into the whole country. Some people have a sense of lawlessness creating a culture of mistrust. Throughout my family, there is a fear of going to the doctors. My grandma, for example, would refuse to go to the doctor for fear of a doctor harvesting her organs and selling it in the black market. She even warned me of getting vaccinated due to doctors purposely contaminating the vaccines with HIV or other viruses. Therefore, I need to change the way I approach her with health care. In some cases, doctors need to approach patients differently. I think the case with the Japanese man would be illegal but in many cases explaining the situation in a culturally sensitive way may improve the quality of care as the patient can make decisions best suited for them.
Religion is also an integral part of my culture specifically Roman Catholicism. There are many churches and everywhere you go there are statues in dedication to the Virgin Mary and Jesus. Therefore, people in my family who are deeply …show more content…
For example, I have had people in my family outright refuse treatment because of religion. Rather than go seek treatment they sought to pray the illness away or go to some witch doctor who rids them of evil energy. Therefore, there are times in which culture can get in the way of treatment. There is no perfect answer in which to deal with different cultures. However, it does improve the quality of care. In the hospital I worked in there was a research study being done helping healthcare professionals approach people in a culturally conscious manner as it has shown to improve patients quality of