A patient presents to the Emergency Department complaining of severe stomach pain. He does not speak or read English and believes his pain is being caused by a hex placed upon him by a feuding neighbor. He comes to the hospital seeking temporary pain relief until he is able to travel to a curandera, a traditional healer, to have the hex removed.
Beyond Language
As part of the HLC study, clinicians were asked how they would interact and care for a hypothetical patient. Not surprisingly, many clinicians were unfamiliar with this situation, and some met the patient’s declaration of a hex with disbelief or referral for a psychiatric consultation. The need to be sensitive to the health beliefs of individuals from diverse cultures is increasingly important in today’s health care environment as our nation’s diversity increases. According the 2000 U.S. Census, about 9 million Mexican immigrants are living in U.S. Metropolitan areas such as Chicago and Los Angeles, which have seen their Latino populations rise dramatically. Additionally, cities such as Atlanta and Raleigh-Durham are becoming new sites for Hispanic population growth. As culture and language are inextricably linked to both the quality and safety of health care, the importance of training health practitioners on the best ways to deal with diverse cultures and languages is now greater than ever.
Project Overview
In collaboration with filmmaker Robin Gate, The Joint Commission will create a multimedia teaching tool for health practitioners that will promote sensitivity to the unique needs of patients who bring culturally-based health beliefs to the health care encounter. This tool aims to:
- Provide an overview of cross-cultural communication.
- Provide insight into the traditional healing world from which some Mexican patients have come.
- Increase awareness of personal behaviors as catalyst for improving cross-cultural understanding.
- Identify strategies to help health professionals negotiate treatment plans with patients who have culturally-based health beliefs.
- Motivate health professionals to continue examining and learning about the role and effect of cultural differences in clinical encounters.
A detailed curriculum guide will accompany the video elements, including discussion questions and exercises that allow learners to more fully explore the impact of culture and language on the provision of health care.
For more information on Beyond Language, contact Amy Wilson-Stronks at awilson-stronks@jointcommission.org.