Introduction The growing diversity in a country poses a constant challenge to health care workers. The hodgepodge of peoples and culture creates a mosaic of cultural dynamics. These cultural dynamics could be a potential source of conflict between the patient and the healthcare providers like physical therapists (PTs), doctors, and nurses. The diversity between the healthcare provider and the patient could impact their decision-making, interaction, relationship, health outcomes and the quality of care. As a result, the call for cultural competency in healthcare was born out of the need to better understand the prevailing beliefs, social practices, and norms of any community, and which could impact health delivery and outcomes (Betancourt,
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Fadiman’s book is remarkably written. The theme of the book is inherently vital in producing the PT profession advocacy for equity and patient-focused care. The book is enriched as it details the tragic story of a Hmong family conflict with western medicine. Meticulously written, the book allows the reader to experience first hand the conflict as it unfolds through the eyes of the healthcare workers and Lia’s parents. The book offers the reader a tumultuous sojourn to the chasm created by the collision of culture and medicine. The story catches the reader in a profound way, and the reader tumbles on the effects of the cultural …show more content…
All these three key findings were evident in Lia’s story. The pediatricians who worked with Lia indicated that the Lees’ were not compliant because they gave the anticonvulsant medication sporadically or lower dosages to Lia (Fadiman, 1997). However, a closer look of the situation would indicate that the misunderstanding between Lia’s doctors and the Lees began on the explanatory models for the diagnosis (medical versus spiritual) of Lia’s seizure (Fadiman, 1997, p. 28). Lia Lee’s tragedy presented the dire consequences of such misunderstanding and underscores the need for cultural understanding and cooperation. Alegria, Atkins, Farmer, Slaton, and Stelk (2010) found that a patient’s wellbeing has the possibility to be negatively influenced when their cultural beliefs do not match that of the paradigm of the healthcare system or the practitioner (p.
Fadiman’s book is remarkably written. The theme of the book is inherently vital in producing the PT profession advocacy for equity and patient-focused care. The book is enriched as it details the tragic story of a Hmong family conflict with western medicine. Meticulously written, the book allows the reader to experience first hand the conflict as it unfolds through the eyes of the healthcare workers and Lia’s parents. The book offers the reader a tumultuous sojourn to the chasm created by the collision of culture and medicine. The story catches the reader in a profound way, and the reader tumbles on the effects of the cultural …show more content…
All these three key findings were evident in Lia’s story. The pediatricians who worked with Lia indicated that the Lees’ were not compliant because they gave the anticonvulsant medication sporadically or lower dosages to Lia (Fadiman, 1997). However, a closer look of the situation would indicate that the misunderstanding between Lia’s doctors and the Lees began on the explanatory models for the diagnosis (medical versus spiritual) of Lia’s seizure (Fadiman, 1997, p. 28). Lia Lee’s tragedy presented the dire consequences of such misunderstanding and underscores the need for cultural understanding and cooperation. Alegria, Atkins, Farmer, Slaton, and Stelk (2010) found that a patient’s wellbeing has the possibility to be negatively influenced when their cultural beliefs do not match that of the paradigm of the healthcare system or the practitioner (p.