Final Reflection

During this semester we have covered a great deal of information regarding what diverse healthcare is and how to make sure as providers we are being sensitive to the concerns of diverse populations. We have covered many individual topics, but I feel the best way to summarize the core of what we learned in this-be respectful of all people. It feels like all the we have learned this semester really boils down to this one simple concept. For example, when we read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks it was often mentioned that her health care providers had little respect for her. If they had been respectful, perhaps they would have taken the time to explain things to her properly and there never would have been a book written about what was done with her genetic material without her consent. 

My learning goals for this semester were fairly simple. I wanted to better understand what major health concerns were for different cultural groups of people, to learn about cultural specific healthcare procedures and to learn about the challenges people face when looking for healthcare. All of these goals were met. In each section of this class we have gone over all three of these ideas. In many ways these have been the core ideas behind the class (my adherence to them was coincidental, I swear!). This class has been very helpful in reminding me that everyone faces a different struggle in maintaining good health.

Book Discussion Review-PLP 6

So far we have done three Book Club discussions for The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. I am part of discussion group 2. In our first discussion we covered the idea of historical heritage and how that effects people throughout the modern era. A large part of that discussion within my group was how different modern health care is today versus the 1940s, and how much better off we are today. We also covered how race and gender can affect care. Discussion two covered benevolent deception. All of us agreed that the concept was a lie and was done to avoid having hard discussions about health care with people believed to be less intelligent for external reasons. No one had anything good to say about the concept. Our third topic covered informed dissent. We again as a group spent time discussing how consent has changed through out time, and agreeing that the situation is much better today than in the past. Overall as a group we have been concerned with the past versus the present, and how we can move forward as health care professionals in a way that is ethical and full of integrity. 

Helpful Links-PLP 5

http://www.hrsa.gov/culturalcompetence/index.html 

This link is for the US Departments of Health and Human Services Culture, Language and Health Literacy page. This page is a set of links to important topics for health care providers when dealing with diverse populations, such as age, ethnicity and gender. It even covers guideline for dealing with special populations, such as the homeless or migrant. This would be helpful for any healthcare provider, especially for mine when dealing with public health issues. This site is definitely  a trustworthy resource, coming from a department of the federal government. 

http://www.cdc.gov/minorityhealth/populations/REMP/definitions.html 

This link comes from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) website. It goes to their Minority Health index, a collection of links based on specific ethnic groups and special populations. The links include a breakdown of what the minority consists of and links to articles about each groups special health concerns. The CDC site overall is a treasure trove of public health information, and this corner of it has quite of bit of information. It would be useful for anyone looking for a starting place on areas of concern for certain ethnic groups and populations. This is a trusted website-The Centers for Disease Control is considered to be a primary source of health and wellness information and procedures for all people. 

CLAS Guidelines

My major is Public Health Microbiology, a sub-major of the lab tech. There does not appear to be any specific guidelines for lab tech, so I looked for Public Health guidelines since that is what I plan to work in. I found what appeared to be almost specific guidelines for a Public Health provider or educator at the Heath and Human Services website of the federal government (http://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/assets/pdf/checked/finalreport.pdf).  These guidelines are very similar to the CLAS guidelines-from my reading it appears that the CLAS guidelines are another version of the full ones I found.  

The main difference between the two sets of guidelines appears to be that the CLAS guidelines have broken down some information into two guidelines rather than just one. Other than that these guidelines are the same. This makes perfect sense-the HHS departments is one of the primary sources for public health information and policy in the United States. At this point I do not have any further specifications for my chosen field other than these guidelines.  

Cultural diversity is an important topic in all parts of our daily lives. As future medical providers it becomes especially important as we will be treating people of many varying backgrounds. Throughout this course, we are working towards a greater understanding of what cultural diversity is and how to make sure we as future providers will treat all of our patients with respect and understanding. My personal goal for this course are to better understand what different races have as their greatest health concerns, to gain fluency in what type of medical procedures are used in different cultures and learn what challenges different people face when looking for health care. 

Cultural Competence and Me

Prejudices, biases and beliefs affect everyone in daily life, but it is important to be aware of harmful thoughts and actions. It is extra important for someone planning to go into the healthcare field, as we are likely to see more people of differing cultures and belief systems. In my Cultural Competence Self Assessment, I ended up with a total of 15 out of 23 right. This was lower than I expected, and I tended to error on some of the factual information asked (like question 13) and on the best practice techniques when working with someone who has limited English or through an interpreter. This surprised me since I have some experience in working with people who do not speak English fluently. But it is a good reminder that just because I think I do a good job does not mean that I cannot improve this skill. I need to make sure that I am careful to remain patient and work to include the patient better in the process. I also need to make sure I am reviewing breakdowns of disease by culture and not just age.