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Patients and doctors can communicate effectively even if they are
from different cultures. It is often thought that if doctor and patient are
too culturally distant, they will not be able to communicate effective-
ly. Such a belief can result in hospital staff avoiding an ethnic minori-
ty patient because they are unsure about how to communicate. In fact,
differences may not always be a barrier. You can explore ways to gain
information about the patient's culture that can be used in a construc-
tive way to complement care. It is also possible that the patient is well
informed about the host country's cultural practices and is willing to
look beyond their own cultural viewpoint when seeking medical help.
Taken from
Communication Skills for Medicine,
Lloyd and Bor, 2004
2. Give the summary of the text
3. Extract the key words
,
then analyze them according to the
principles of thesaurus-making up
.
4
.
Examine the reasons why the authors suggest patients
might need a doctor of their own gender as opposed to their own
culture.
5.
Mak
e a list of some of the key points involved in crossing
cultural barriers during the patient encounter. Read the extract
below to compare your answers with Lloyd and Bor's
* Heightened awareness of cultural issues can help you to make a
more accurate assessment of the patient's behaviour, to improve
the therapeutic relationship and to enhance treatment.
* There are certain cultural groups, particularly new arrivals of ref-
ugees, that may have multiple psychological and physical con-
cerns, and these may need to be discussed when there is a sense of
trust and safety; i.e. assessment may take longer than with some-
one with full command of the language, culture and system.
* The patient may be part of a particular culture, but they will have
adopted some aspects of it and rejected others. The doctor must
carefully assess each patient's individual and cultural needs before
deciding on an appropriate treatment