September 17, 2007
Doctor-patient disconnect?
Tracy Wheeler writing in the Beacon Journal reports on how different ethnic populations expect to be treated by their doctor.
In focus groups, Asians said [they] want doctors and nurses to speak more slowly and clearly, and to ''explain things until I understand.'' Eastern Europeans saw a need for interpreters. Muslims said they felt rushed at doctors' appointments. African-Americans wanted more easy-to-understand medical information. Only Hispanics said that doctors routinely go out of their way to communicate with patients, despite language barriers.
However some worry about the effect of focusing on cultural expectations.
Findings like these "give me the heebie-jeebies," said Dr. Joseph Zarconi, Summa's vice president of medical education and research. While the quest to serve a diverse population is "very right-minded," the effort often leads to "misguided strategies."
Zarconi worries that such efforts can lead to stereotyping, or a belief that all members of a certain race or religion are the same. He said that could contribute to poor health care as much as cultural insensitivity.
It's not about race and ethnicity, he said. It's about a person's life experience.
Just because two patients happen to be 52-year-old black men doesn't mean they have similar lives. Just as two heart-attack patients aren't necessarily the same.
"It's up to us to ask, 'What's going on in your life?'" he said.
Coming Up:
The next presentation in our Works in Progress series, held in collaboration with the Center for Health Equity, will be at Cleveland State on Friday, October 12 from 3-4 p.m.
Kenneth Sparks, PhD will present, 'The Effective Community: Education on Disease Risk in Hispanic Females.'
RSVP to Kendra Daniel at k.daniel@csuohio.edu or by phone 216-687-4704.