2023-08-23

Putting Patients First: Factoring Culture Into Healthcare

As healthcare professionals, we strive to provide patients with the best care possible. While staying current on the latest treatment best practices is critical, it’s also important to remember that every patient is unique and requires an individualized approach to care.

Many factors influence a patient’s attitude toward healthcare, including their cultural background. Culture can impact when and where patients seek healthcare, their beliefs about health, how diseases spread, their communication preferences, adherence to treatment plans, and overall satisfaction with healthcare services. As such, understanding – and respecting – how culture impacts healthcare is crucial to reducing disparities and delivering optimal care.

In this blog post, we will discuss the importance of recognizing culture when interacting with patients and how you can optimize communication.  

Ask Questions to Better Understand your Patients 

Understanding your patients’ values is key to providing effective care that aligns with their beliefs. Asking open-ended questions can provide important insight into their views and help you determine how to best approach treatment. Some questions to ask include:

  • How do you like to make healthcare decisions?
  • What do you think caused this problem?
  • What people or things in your life influence your healthcare decisions?
  • Who should be present when we discuss your health and treatment options?
  • Are there special beliefs or customs we should keep in mind?
  • How concerned are you about your condition?
  • What do you think about this treatment plan?

Effective Communication Skills

Excellent communication is key to delivering effective care, but language barriers can create challenges that are difficult to overcome. Language barriers can make it hard for patients to accurately describe their symptoms, or to understand their diagnosis and treatment plan. Perceptions of healthcare professionals might also cause patients to misrepresent their symptoms. In these situations, it is important to have trained interpreters available to facilitate communication – they can often help healthcare providers understand the cultural nuances of their patients better. When interacting with patients through an interpreter use simple language, listen closely to patients, and ask questions to clarify any misunderstandings. Have patients describe their treatment plan back in their own words to ensure they fully understand. When possible, provide treatment information in the patient’s first language.  

Cultural Competence Training for Healthcare Providers

To improve patient outcomes and provide tailored care that meets each patient’s cultural needs and preferences, healthcare providers should consider taking cultural competence training to improve their knowledge and skills. A US study analyzing the impact of cultural competence training for healthcare professionals found that it had a positive effect and was significantly associated with increased patient satisfaction. Embracing cultural sensitivity will help create a healthcare system that supports the health and well-being of all patients, regardless of their cultural background.

+ + +

Stay current on the latest treatment best practices and breakthroughs on a variety of diseases. Join MDBriefCase for free

 

Author Agreement

In submitting your work (the “Work”) for potential posting on the MDBriefCase Healthcare Leadership Academy website (the “Website”), you (“You”) expressly agree to the following:

Review: MDBriefCase is pleased to consider the publication of Your Work on the Website.   The suitability of the Work for posting shall be determined by MDBRiefCase at its sole discretion. Nothing herein shall obligate MDBriefcase to post or otherwise publish the Work, or the maintain its posting in future.   

Editing; Identification: MDBriefcase shall have the right to edit the Work to conform to our standards of style, technological requirements, language usage, grammar and punctuation, provided that the meaning of the Work is not materially altered.  If posted, You will be identified as the author of the Work, or co-author if applicable.  

Grant of Rights:  As a condition of publication and for no monetary compensation, You hereby grant to MDBriefCase the following rights to the Work in any and all media whether now existing or hereafter developed, including print and electronic/digital formats:  (1) the exclusive right of first publication worldwide;  (2) the perpetual non-exclusive worldwide right to publish, reproduce, distribute, sell, adapt, perform, display, sublicense, and create derivative works, alone or in conjunction with other materials; (3) the perpetual non-exclusive worldwide right to use the Work, or any part thereof, in any other publication produced by MDBriefCase and/or on MDBriefCase’s website; and (4) the perpetual non-exclusive worldwide right to use the Work to promote and publicize MDBriefCase or its publications.  The grant of rights survives termination or expiration of this Agreement.    

Warranty:  You warrant that the Work is original with You and that it is not subject to any third party copyright; that You have authority to grant the rights in this Agreement; that publication of the Work will not libel anyone or infringe on or invade the rights of others; that You have full power and authority to enter into this Agreement; that the Work has not been published elsewhere in whole or in part; and that You have obtained permission from the copyright owner consistent with this Agreement for any third party copyrighted material in the Work.  This warranty survives termination or expiration of this Agreement.

Submission Agreement

Thank you for your interest in writing an article for the MDBriefCase Healthcare Leadership Academy website.

Audience and Appropriate Topics

The  Healthcare Leadership Academy welcomes submissions on all topics relevant to leaders in healthcare. Our topics include Leading in Healthcare, Leadership Lessons from COVID-19 and others. We prioritize stories that provide leadership advice to executives and managers in healthcare companies, offer actionable strategies for executing successful projects, and provide interesting angles on current healthcare topics. Submissions must be original work of the authors and unpublished.  When submitting, authors represent that they have included no material that is in violation of the rights of any other person or entity.

Parameters

Articles must be educational and non-promotional. If they mention the author’s company or any of the company’s products or services by name within the text, such mention should be very limited and used for reference only, not for promotion. (For example, an author might cite a survey conducted by his company but not describe his company’s product as a solution to a business problem.) Articles will be edited for clarity, style and brevity. The final headline is determined by the editor.

Length of Submissions

Guest articles for the MDBriefCase Healthcare Leadership Academy may run between 500 and 1000 words. 

Review

MDBriefCase reserves the right to accept or reject any submission  and the right to condition acceptance upon revision of material to conform to its criteria.   

No Compensation

There is no payment for contributed articles. However, MDBriefCase will give the author a byline. Authors are invited to link to the article on personal  websites, corporate websites and social media platforms.

Author Agreements

Each author understands and agrees that any submission accepted for posting is provided subject to MDBriefCase’s Author Agreement