WHAT IS CULTURAL COMPETENCY?
Cultural competency has become an important aspect in the medical establishment in recent years. It is presently a part of training for medical personnel who deal with people of diverse backgrounds, so as to inculcate more sensitivity to cultural issues. A review of the definitions of this topic reveals the following:
It is suggested by (Barlow 2013:3) “that every culture has a medical model, an assemblage of understandings and beliefs regarding sickness, health, and who can dispense healthcare under what circumstances. The increasing ethnic diversity of the general American population has sparked a growing awareness that healthcare delivery need to be culturally competent, meaning that practitioners need to be able to provide services that are perceived by clients as relevant to their problems and are helpful for intervention outcomes.”
According to (Jorelmon 2010:96) "The Bureau of Primary Health Care (BPHC) defines this to be, the assimilation and implementation of a set of attitudes, skills, behaviors, and policies that enable organizations and staff to work effectively, in cross-cultural situations … acquire and use knowledge of health related beliefs attitudes, practices and communication patterns of clients and their families to improve services, strengthen programs, increase community participation and close the gaps in health status among diverse population groups."
Cultural competency has become an important aspect in the medical establishment in recent years. It is presently a part of training for medical personnel who deal with people of diverse backgrounds, so as to inculcate more sensitivity to cultural issues. A review of the definitions of this topic reveals the following:
It is suggested by (Barlow 2013:3) “that every culture has a medical model, an assemblage of understandings and beliefs regarding sickness, health, and who can dispense healthcare under what circumstances. The increasing ethnic diversity of the general American population has sparked a growing awareness that healthcare delivery need to be culturally competent, meaning that practitioners need to be able to provide services that are perceived by clients as relevant to their problems and are helpful for intervention outcomes.”
According to (Jorelmon 2010:96) "The Bureau of Primary Health Care (BPHC) defines this to be, the assimilation and implementation of a set of attitudes, skills, behaviors, and policies that enable organizations and staff to work effectively, in cross-cultural situations … acquire and use knowledge of health related beliefs attitudes, practices and communication patterns of clients and their families to improve services, strengthen programs, increase community participation and close the gaps in health status among diverse population groups."
ROLE OF CULTURAL COMPETENCY IN APPLIED MEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGY AND CRITICA MEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGY.
According to (Engebretson 2013:13) cultural competence has become an important issue in health care delivery in the United States. Ethnic diversity has challenged health care providers to provide quality care. National concerns regarding social justice and health disparities have stimulated more interest in addressing cultural issues. Furthermore, several regulations and standards have been established by the Office of Minority Health Care Organization and Joint Commission for Accreditation of Health Care Organization. The research work done by applied and critical medical anthropologists is essential for the planning of effective interventions by health care practitioners when working with cultural diverse groups. CULTURE COMPETENCY AND THE LIA LEE CASE A review of the various interactions and actions taken by the medical staff and the Lees would suggest that cultural competency was not applied in this case. I wish to highlight the following: Prior to the immigration/resettlement of the Hmong people to the United States no research was done with an applied medical anthropological perspective to gather ethnographic data that would have been pertinent to plan programs that would have created awareness of the cultural traits to be addressed when dealing this particular group of people. It was a culture shock for the Hmong’s, to be transferred from a “swidden agriculture" form of production, animism belief system, and village communal way of living to a developed, industrialized country like the United States. The medical staff at Merced was practicing medicine based on their training as medical practitioners – the western culture of evaluation and assessments. They had no insight of the Lees and Hmong people views and concept of epilepsy; that it was a special spiritual gift, the person experiencing it can be groomed to be a shaman or spiritual healer. The Hmong history of non-compliance with certain medical procedures, for example venipuncture and to certain medication in Laos but complying with the use of antibiotics since it cured their infections; would have informed the Doctors on how to treat Lia Lee. In order to simplify the medication regimen to treat this specific type of seizure - Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome. The Lees never understood Lia's conditon because of their different cultural beliefs. The concept of a chronic medical condition that was not curable but where symptoms can be controlled by medication taken daily was not part of the Lees way of thinking. |