Explain How Culture Affect Effective Health Care Team Relationships

SECTION3

HEALTH COMMUNICATION

QUESTION 1

Refer to University of South Africa (2008:215-218) to answer the questions below.

1.1 Define health care teams with practical examples.

“Healthcare is a team effort. Each healthcare provider is like a member of the team with a special role. Some team members are doctors or technicians who help diagnose disease. Others are experts who treat disease or care for patients ' physical and emotional needs.”

Example:

When a patient goes to visit their primary care provider (PCP), the visit involves many more people than just the doctor:

• Members of the administrative staff would schedule the appointment, find the medical record, and make a reminder call, greet the patient and verify insurance information.

Provide practical examples to substantiate your answer.

“Culture is defined as the dynamic and multidimensional context of many aspects of the life of an individual (2). It includes gender, faith, sexual orientation, profession, tastes, age, socioeconomic status, disability, ethnicity, and race.”

When health care professionals are not communicating effectively, patient safety is at risk for several reasons: lack of critical information, misinterpretation of information, unclear orders over the telephone, and overlooked changes in status. Lack of communication creates situations where medical errors can occur.

Example:

Based on sexual orientation:

A lesbian sees a gynecologist for the first time. The patient has marked “sexually active” and “not married” on the intake form and the physician asks what type of birth control she is using. The patient shrugs, and the physician spends several minutes discussing available options. She is sensitive to her needs but keeps insisting that she consider using birth control. As the woman leaves the office, she is upset and refuses to see this gynecologist