Hill listed as barriers to care socioeconomic status, risky behaviors, cultural values and health beliefs, perceived racism, literacy and psychosocial factors. It's not that providers haven't treated patients from various cultural backgrounds before. It's just that many of them may need formal training in how to cultivate a trusting, respectful relationship with patients. Asked if he had ever witnessed or heard of a patient not receiving optimal health care because of a language or other cultural barrier, Garry Kauffman, MPA, RRT, didn't hesitate a beat. There's not a practitioner alive who hasn't experienced a situation in which language or cultural differences played a role in their care.
Some differences are subtle.
I'm here to treat you,' most of us may not even stop to think that this manner of addressing the patient doesn't work for everyone. Persons of different ages or cultures may consider that address as rude. We're decent folk, but we don't know what we don't know. Most practitioners are aware that Jehovahs Witnesses eschew blood transfusions. But other, less well-documented cultural inclinations bear remembering.