Healthcare Professionals: Understanding Cultural Differences

There are many cultures that we may not be aware of and for that reason we cannot judge people because of how they look, act, talk, etc. Healthcare professionals must be conscience that they will be dealing with many cultural different people daily. All healthcare professionals should learn something about different cultures to understand different people’s behavior. Also, it’s a good idea for healthcare professionals to know about cultural differences to avoid stereotyping, to know if a patient may want to know their prognosis, avoid misunderstandings and to provide better care. Many professionals may think if they treat everyone with respect they can avoid almost all cultural problems. Although, that is not always true because maybe the healthcare professional considers making eye contact respectful while the patient’s culture believes it is a sign of disrespect towards someone. For example, Chinese patients avoiding eye contact with the physician may be showing the physician respect while the physician may interpret the …show more content…
It is very easy to stereotype like saying things like “all Hispanics...” or “all Americans…” Also, believing everyone reacts to things the same. For example, Zola states that an Irish woman had been hospitalized and after being discharged she complained to her family members about pain. Her physician was unaware of the seriousness of the pain she was experiencing and he was not too concerned because the patients he usually treats speak up about their pain. Irish culture usually does not show expressions of pain (Zola 1). The patient went to surgery when she was scheduled and died during the surgery. She had a daughter-in-law which was a nurse and she thought that if the that if the physician would’ve been more concerned the patient might have lived (Galanti 1). In that case the doctor made the mistake of stereotyping because he or she believed that all patients experiencing serious pain will show