Question

You are the new supervisor at a family practice office and overheard the medical assistant discussing a patient’s culture in a very negative way. They made it very clear that they were going to treat the patient differently and had no clear understanding of cultural differences. How would you handle the situation? When would you approach the medical assistant?

Answer 1

Cultural differences between patient and healthcare provider sometimes become the barrier in the treatment of the patient. Culture can be defined by the language of the patient, its beliefs, values, and traditions. The perspective of looking the disease or illness is very different in different cultures so it is essential for healthcare to understand the culture of the patient.

Firstly, the supervisor would try to discuss the issues of cultural barrier with the medical assistant and make him clear the ill-effects of neglecting the patient-culture on the health of the patient. Then, the supervisor would give the suggestions to handle the patient like use of cross-reference communications about the disease like of some other person suffering from the same disease. Discussing the family history of diseases, the home-remedies used and their traditions. In case of languauge barriers, sign lanuaguage and questonnaires can be used. The belief of patient about the disease, treatment, and medicines involved in also important in this scenario. So, the medical assistant would be made clear about all these methods before approaching the patient.