Assessment for Beliefs
Traditionally, trained healthcare providers played dominant roles in dealing with patients. Patients’ concerns regarding treatment procedures were not considered. It was later discovered that patients have important roles to play during treatment. Serious problems have been encountered whenever healthcare providers deal with patients from varied cultural backgrounds. G. D case study is an example of such problems.
G. D is avoiding eye contact with the healthcare provider. He is also not willing to talk. This suggests that he is hiding something. He seems to be unsure about the kind of reaction his beliefs may attract.
In addition, G. D. promised his mother that he will never admit her in any medical facility even if her condition required such admission. This behaviour falls outside the normal scientific medical practice. Under such circumstances, care providers should determine the reasoning behind the patient’s behaviour and come up with the most appropriate diagnostic and therapeutic procedures.
Healthcare providers should first create an environment that enables patients to talk freely. Friendship should be developed between the patient and the care provider. This would give confidence to the patient. In addition, discussions should be carried out on equal basis. The patient and the care provider can share their family histories and beliefs in a manner that reveals the desired information. This helps healthcare providers to understand patients’ perception of diseases (Allen, Jacobs & Levy, 2006).
Impact of Beliefs on Care
Some diseases are common in certain cultural beliefs. Healing gets complicated if such background information is not available.
Patients who fail to appreciate treatment procedures are likely to abandon doctor’s recommendation.
It has also been revealed that a right mental state with regard to treatment improves healing process (Allen, Jacobs & levy, 2006).
Common Factors
G. D is 64 years old. His mother is obviously older. The health of old people is not considered worth in some cultures. These people are believed to have already lived their lives and trying to treat them would be a waste of resources.
Economic status affects the kind of treatment that people can access. For instance, Hispanics form a minority group that is characterised by high levels of poverty. Most of these people are not educated and have limited contact with professionals. Consequently, they may poorly address their health problems due to lack of awareness.
Some cultures do not allow people to seek scientific medication. Hispanics perceive sickness as a weakness that should be hidden from the public. Information regarding sickness is only shared with close family members such as mothers or marriage partners. In this case, family members are expected not to disclose such information to outsiders. Hispanic men are also not expected to complain or cry for help. These could be some of the reasons why G. D. is not willing to talk. There is also a belief among Hispanics that some illnesses can only be addressed by a healer through some rituals. Assessment of these factors helps to identify underlying problems and determine the most appropriate remedies (Andrews & Boyle, 2002).
Nursing Role
Health care providers should always incorporate the patient’s opinion and beliefs in the scientifically accepted treatment procedures. Efforts should be directed towards getting the patient to appreciate the required medical procedure without appearing to undermine their beliefs. At the end of the day, nurses should be able to prevent harm and attain maximum outcomes from the treatment process.
References
Allen, M. P, Jacobs S.K, and Levy J.R. (2006).Mapping the literature of nursing: 1996–2000. J Med Libr Assoc. 94(2):206–20.
Andrews, M. M, Boyle J. S. (2002). Transcultural concepts in nursing care. J Transcult Nurs. 13(3):178–80.