In this assignment, you will address THREE health care “scenarios”, and how you would display cultural competency in dealing with the issues. Please read each scenario carefully and answer the questions. For each scenario, you will be asked to address specific cultural issues that are revealed in the situation, and to describe culturally responsible ways to deal with each situation. Usually, there will be more than ONE cultural issue and ways to address the issue. Type your answers and submit them as a Microsoft Word (.docx) or .pdf document.
For your answers, make sure to bring up specific things addressed in the lecture for this week. You can also incorporate elements found elsewhere in our Canvas modules and relevant materials from your textbook. The scenarios all come from various internet websites, but your answers need to reveal an understanding of the lecture material and the textbook material. If you use outside web sources, or rely on A.I. generated answers, you will receive NO CREDIT for the assignment.
Scenario 1 – Adapting to a New Patient Population
A local hospital experiences an influx of ultra-orthodox Jewish patients as a newly established Hasidic community nearby grows. The hospital staff has little knowledge of the customs or traditions of this growing segment of the facility’s patient population.
However, the staff has already encountered:
- Situations of patients refusing to eat
- Complaints that visitors who couldn’t use elevators on Jewish holidays lacked access to stairwells
- Confusing exchanges when members of the orthodox community refused to shake hands with healthcare providers of the opposite sex
Questions
1. What are the cultural issues mentioned in the lecture or in the book that are relevant to this situation?
2. What needs to be done in order to address this issue in a culturally compenent and responsible way? (There is more than ONE thing to do to respond responsibly in this situation – name all that come to mind).
Scenario 2 – Patient Comparisons
Bobbie, a nurse, had two patients who had both had coronary artery bypass grafts. Mr. Valdez, a middle-aged Nicaraguan man, was the first to come up from the recovery room. He was already hooked up to a morphine PCA (patient-controlled analgesia) machine, which allowed him to administer pain medication as needed in controlled doses and at controlled intervals. For the next two hours, he summoned Bobbie every ten minutes to request more pain medication. Bobbie finally called the physician to have his dosage increased and to request additional pain injections every three hours as needed. Every three hours he requested an injection. He continually whimpered in painful agony.
A middle-aged Chinese patient refused pain medication following cataract surgery. When asked, he replied his discomfort was bearable and he could survive without any medication. Later the nurse found him restless and uncomfortable. Again the nurse offered pain medication. Again he refused, explaining that her responsibilities at the hospital were far more important than his comfort and he did not want to impose. Only after she firmly insisted that the patients comfortwas one of her most important responsibilities did the patient finally agree to take the medication.
Questions
1. What are some cultural aspects that need to be considered for both patients?
2. What are culturally competent ways of addressing BOTH patients’ reactions?
Scenario 3 – Consent for Surgery
An eighty-three-year-old Cherokee woman named Mary Cloud was brought into the hospital emergency room by her grandson, Joe, after she had passed out at home. Lab tests and x-rays indicated that she had a bowel obstruction. After consulting with Joe, the attending physician called in a surgeon to remove it. Joe was willing to sign consent for the surgery, but it would not be legal; the patient had to sign for herself. Mrs. Cloud, however, refused; she wanted to see the medicine man on the reservation. Unfortunately, the drive took an hour and a half each way, and she was too ill to be moved.
Questions
1. What cutural issue(s) is/are relevant in this situation?
2. What actions could be done in order to respond with cultural competency to this situation?
different links to look at
