The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down Essay

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down is a book that highlights the struggles between two cultures in healthcare. The lack of understanding and communication lead to a medical tragedy for Hmong child Lia Lee. The story starts with the Lee’s forced immigration to America and talks about Lia being born with epilepsy. As the story unfolds there are many challenges that both cultures face in attempt to provide the best care for Lia. The family has very strong religious and cultural beliefs and the Western medicine only see the biomedicine side of the care Lia needs. There are lots of opportunities for changes and improved care. Looking at the Guidelines for implementing culturally competent care and the Core competencies for interprofessional …show more content…
The family was originally from Laos and had spent some time in Thailand eventually making it to the United States. The family first encountered Western medicine when Foua gave birth to Lia at Merced Community Medical Center. Unable to communicate with the staff there were several issues over the time of the birth that complicated the situation but overall Foua was content with the care she received. The family wanted the child born in the hospital to establish US residency. Foua did not report loosing trust in the system until they had made several visits to the hospital. The need for Knowledge of Culture was great even from the beginning for this family. The first cultural competency refers to the Nurse gaining understanding of the perspectives of traditions, values, practices and family systems of the culturally diverse populations for whom they provide care, as well as knowledge of the complex variables that affect their achievement of health and well being. The most important piece of this book is cultural understanding. The book shows the conflict of two cultures, Hmong and American that ended in medical struggles for Lia Lee. An understanding of medical practices and religious beliefs prove to be obstacles for all involved in Lia’s care. The competency was not met according to the book. The nurses were unhappy with having to care for Lia as time went on because they viewed the family as …show more content…
The patient advocacy and empowerment guideline says that Nurses shall recognize the effect of health care policies, delivery systems, and resources on their patient populations and shall empower and advocate for their patients as indicated. Nurses shall advocate for the inclusion of their patient’s cultural beliefs and practices in all dimensions of their health care when possible. The visiting nurse makes notes that talk about the interpreter and the mother not giving the prescribed medications. The nurse’s notes do not include having conversations with the parents about their concerns and how to resolve them; it is assumed that the parents are being