Interpersonal Awareness

A requirement for all health care professions is the ability to be culturally competent. This means that despite a person’s background and what language they speak, one must be able to keep an open mind about the differences that sets as a barrier between professional and patient. Hence to ensure that a patient is treated well despite the differences the CLAS standard exists mainly for that.

CLAS standards exist to ensure that patients receives the best and most fair care while they are being treated in a professional’s presence. This means that despite a patient’s background, ethnicity, or difference shouldn’t matter and that what really matters is that they are being treated fairly and well as they are the patients. CLAS standards also exist to help prevent any health care disparities.

The cultural competence requirements for radiologic technology are as followed:  

-Recognizing, respecting and understanding a patient’s belief, needs, and values.

-Strongly encourage the patient to participate in the decision making of their treatment as it is their body and their right to decide what they prefer and want to do.

-Utilizing resources available when it comes to communications, such as an interpreter if needed or simplifying medical terms so patient understands what is going on

On the other hand, the similar CLAS standards are as followed:

-Principal standard:  Provide effective, equitable, understandable, and respectful quality care and services that are responsive to diverse cultural health beliefs and practices, preferred languages, health literacy, and other communication needs. 

-Communication and Language Assistance: Provide easy-to-understand print and multimedia materials and signage in the languages commonly used by the populations in the service area. Offer language assistance to individuals who have limited English proficiency and/or other communication needs, at no cost to them, to facilitate timely access to all health care and services.  

As the list above contains only a couple of the requirements to get a clear view of the difference between the two. The ultimate goal is to have a health care system where a patient is treated well and fairly without prejudice in regards to where they come from, their beliefs, their skin color and how different they are.

All in all, personally, I believe that despite what profession or occupation whether it’s from the health care profession to the business occupation all patients/clients should be treated with the utmost fairness and best care available despite their background. At the end of the day, a person is not defined by being the same as everyone but the differences that makes them unique and who they are.

Learning Goals

After having taken a look at the results of the Quality and Culture Quiz, I realize where my flaws lay and where I needed to learn more. In this sense, my three personal goals are: 

·         --Not allow language barriers or cultural differences stand in between me and my profession.

o   The reason is because English is my second language. Which means that my culture is different from the American way, my thought processes and understanding are different because I view things from a different point of view. I view and see through my understanding of how things are and they should be. Due to the fact that my background and ethnicity is different I tend to think more of what the norm for my culture is rather than view from a neutral standpoint. But in a way, I understand how others from a different ethnicity feels because I know what it’s like to be misunderstood and to not fully comprehend something.

·         --Stay away from norms, whether they are American norms, Asian norms, African-American norms, etc.

o   The reason is because viewing and judging things based on a norm makes one’s judgment become clouded. It’s also a habit I have when it comes to basing things off in my culture. As stated above I tend to resort to my cultural norms, such as a daughter must do house chores and work hard while the sons provide food on the table for the family, keeps a roof over the family’s head and protect the family. I don’t resort to these norms. I’ve come a long way from years back to where I am now. Instead of letting my parents tell me the old fashioned traditional ways of life such as the examples provided above, I tend to argue my case. We’re in a new age where males and females, sons and daughters are treated equally have equal opportunities.

·         --Learn about cultural difference as much as possible…understanding different cultures in general.

o   This would require outside work and research. I’ve always been interested in learning about cultural background and histories, how one culture comes to be or rather how it functions in community. I feel that learning about different cultures in general is very helpful and would help one understand better where their patient is coming from and how they see things.

By the end of this course, I hope to have met these goals. To me, these goals are important and would widen my point of view as a profession and allow me to see from a perspective different from my own. As they would help me better myself as a person and in my profession.  

Provider's Guide ot Quality and Culture Quiz....

Taking the Provider’s Guide to Quality and Culture quiz really helped me understand myself in terms of my knowledge of cultural differences and beliefs. I honestly thought I had a clear understanding of what was expected of me when providing service in my profession. Turns out I knew some and didn’t know others. I actually scored a 12 out of 23 which wasn’t very good.

10. If a family member speaks English as well as the patient’s native language, and is willing to act as interpreter, this is the best possible solution to the problem of interpreting.
You chose: True   Review	Correct answer: False	Read more

An example I wanted to use was this. When I answered this question, I, honestly believed that if a family member speaks English as well as the native language, interpreting would be fine. I was actually surprised to find that the correct answer was false. I do understand that most healthcare providers prefer a professional interpreter but I believe that maybe having both would be helpful. I’ve actually had experience of bad interpreters who failed to correctly interpret what the doctor wanted to convey. In my case it was my mother who needed an interpreter to help understand what was being said to her and what she needed/wanted to know/ask. I felt that the interpreter who interpreted for my mother failed to explain clearly what the question was and that he did not understand what was being asked. And this is why I believe that a family member who speaks English as well as their native language can interpret. Sometimes not all professional interpreters know the exact words that are being asked or can they explain it in the native language. I’m not saying I knew how to explain clearly what was being asked, but being present at all my mother’s doctor visits and keeping myself updated with what’s going on with her really helped me help my mother in terms of interpreting. But I do understand that it is a violation of the Civil Rights Act for a family to interpret because they can instead of helping the patient, influence the patient different from what the healthcare professional may have in mind.

17. Which of the following is good advice for a provider attempting to use and interpret non-verbal communication?
You chose: d  Review	Correct answer: a	Read more

In this question I would have thought that hand gestures would be helpful in filling the gap. Again this is from secondhand experience. As stated above, I frequent my mother’s doctor appointments in which when there are times when I can’t go my sister would go. My sister and I are different so where I can speak fluently in my native language and English, my sister was fluent in English but not so much in my native language. That said, my mother told me of how she had to use hand gestures to convey what she wanted to tell her doctor because my sister didn’t either know the English word for what my mother was referring to or that my sister just didn’t know how to say it in English. After reviewing this answer this question, I realized that, as stated, a smile can mean a lot of things even unhappiness. In regards to this, it is helpful to understand that not all smiles are universal or that what we believe to be universal hand gestures are a universal language.

5. When taking a medical history from a patient with a limited ability to speak English, which of the following is LEAST useful?
You chose: b  Review	Correct answer: a	Read more

With this question, I thought that minimizing the patient’s response would be helpful, in which it was stated to be the least useful. I understand that having a language barrier can be frustrating and hard a time, but to ask the patient yes or no questions would be helpful in knowing what’s wrong with the patient. Looking at the review and from a different perspective, it does have a lot of loopholes where a patient may not be diagnosed properly. In limiting the patient’s answers to yes or no questions, the questions can go on for a long time and frustration may build up on both parties. In order to precisely diagnose a patient, one must be able to ask the patient questions that the patient can answer and describe why they have sought medical attention. Asking open-ended questions helps the healthcare professional understand more than simple yes or no answers and allows the patient to seek the proper attention needed.

9. Which of the following are the correct ways to communicate with a patient through an interpreter?
You chose: d   Review	Correct answer: d	Read more

I feel that most healthcare professionals don’t speak to the patient instead they speak to the interpreter and this, for me, makes it seem like the patient is just there and not involved in the conversation. Throughout all of my mom’s appointments there has only been one time when the healthcare professional looked my mother even when she was talking to the interpreter. This made me feel like my mother was the doctor’s priority and had my mother’s wellness in mind. It made her feel like she was important and was the main focus. Patients should always be the main focus and should always be given attention of the professional. I felt that this is how all healthcare professional should act when talking to a patient through an interpreter. There is the problem of language barrier but it doesn’t mean you ignore the patient and talk to the interpreter because the interpreter understands the language. Keeping eye contact and focus on the patient allows the patient to know and understand that their health and wellness is the healthcare professional’s priority. It helps the patient understand that yes they may have this language barrier going on but it’s not an unsurmountable obstacle and should not be an excuse to miscommunication. I’ve come realize that a lot of these questions I answered were really based on personal experiences I have witnessed or gone through as an outside party. This helps me understand and realize that not all situations and scenarios are and should be based on personal or second party experiences. Where one experience can be super bad there could be great experiences too. I’m glad I took this test because I really saw the bias that I had through my personal experience which clouded my ability to fully understand and take in scenarios properly. I hope to base less of what I feel and experience into what my answers and open my mind to what’s in front of me. This really opened my eyes to how different beliefs and culture differences can come in between communication.

Hello, welcome to my blog!

Hello everyone!! Welcome to Lee's blog. I hope everything goes well! Something about me...first off, my name is Lee Vang. I am a student at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. I am majoring in Biomedical Sciences and minoring in Health Administration. I come from a big family and am not from around Milwaukee.