Throughout the practice of medicine, cultural perspective has played a role in the treatment of an individual. Today in an age of interconnectedness around the world, a medical practitioner will come into contact with an abundance of new and different beliefs and attitudes on health. This need for a holistic look at cultural elements on medical practices has become more relevant with the increase of refugees and immigrants being treated within American health centers in order to care for each patient with the care they need.
The idea of taking the patient's own cultural beliefs into mind is cross-cultural medicine. This is an essential skill for any medical practitioner. Having diverse knowledge on specific cultural practices and how they …show more content…
Within Hmong culture, the seizures that Lia was having were actually a spirit, a daab, that entered her body. This is known as quag dab peg, the spirit catches you and you fall down. The Hmong see this as a gift and people who experiences quag dab peg are seen as important people in the community. This outlook led to Lia’s parents not medicating their child initially. This led to their child being taken away for periods of times based on “neglect”. Later, when she needed extensive lists of medicines, her parents had a difficult time understanding why they were supposed to give her them all, often resorting to their traditional ways of medicine. It wasn’t until doctors looked at the cultural perspective of the Hmong people and took the approach of cross-cultural medicine was Lia able to be with her family, with a shorter list of medicines, and live a longer life than originally estimated.
A psychiatrist and medical anthropologist, Arthur Kleinman created a list of eight questions that were known as The Patient Explanatory Model. The questions take the physicians focus from “Where does it hurt?” to more personal questions that start with what, how, and when. On example is the first question, “What do you think caused your problem?” (Fadiman 1997: 260-261) It specifically asks the individual what they think is the cause of the pain or illness. This gives the medical practitioner a more complex look at how their patient’s perspective and beliefs on health look
The idea of taking the patient's own cultural beliefs into mind is cross-cultural medicine. This is an essential skill for any medical practitioner. Having diverse knowledge on specific cultural practices and how they …show more content…
Within Hmong culture, the seizures that Lia was having were actually a spirit, a daab, that entered her body. This is known as quag dab peg, the spirit catches you and you fall down. The Hmong see this as a gift and people who experiences quag dab peg are seen as important people in the community. This outlook led to Lia’s parents not medicating their child initially. This led to their child being taken away for periods of times based on “neglect”. Later, when she needed extensive lists of medicines, her parents had a difficult time understanding why they were supposed to give her them all, often resorting to their traditional ways of medicine. It wasn’t until doctors looked at the cultural perspective of the Hmong people and took the approach of cross-cultural medicine was Lia able to be with her family, with a shorter list of medicines, and live a longer life than originally estimated.
A psychiatrist and medical anthropologist, Arthur Kleinman created a list of eight questions that were known as The Patient Explanatory Model. The questions take the physicians focus from “Where does it hurt?” to more personal questions that start with what, how, and when. On example is the first question, “What do you think caused your problem?” (Fadiman 1997: 260-261) It specifically asks the individual what they think is the cause of the pain or illness. This gives the medical practitioner a more complex look at how their patient’s perspective and beliefs on health look