Culture issues and trends in healthcare

Culture issues and trends in healthcare

Introduction

Culture be described as shared or learned behaviors and beliefs that can be passed from one group to another or from one community to another. Culture includes ideas, thoughts, communication styles, how people interact, people relationships and roles, practices, customs, and values. The fundamental aspects that shape culture include race, gender, language, nationality, and ethnicity. Still, it may extend to special social status, occupation, sexual orientation, mental ability, and other factors (Betancourt et. el 2005). These aspects can be described as sociocultural factors, which modifies or values in our day to day activities, for example, the influence of culture in the health sector.

Culture is attributed to affect the healthcare system across the world. The health care sector has a credible input toward the achievements of 2020 goals and strategies by participating in general health, the social well-being of the people, and the whole society. In developed countries, Health policy is much concerned with improving while assessing the worth of health care services. In particular, the United States has articulated concerns over quality issues on culture impacting healthcare. But the question is, how are the quality improvements on cultural values to be wrought in the healthcare sector. Cultural competence in health care distinguishes individual groups; for example, African Americans and Hispanics represent an ethnic, racial, and nationality that has varying health attributes as compared to other majority people in the country. Ideally, the healthcare sector should adjust to the cultural needs in health guided by the national policies.

Innovative and modern healthcare following the needs for culture change viewed to improve economic growth by ensuring people receive health benefits competitiveness and productivity. However, healthcare is a keystone of the research and development and produces current products and services (European Commission 2012a). There is a rapid growth in the health care sector, providing a more significant number of jobs to the graduates. In this paper, we will look at the cultural issues in healthcare and the current trends in healthcare.

Anne Fadiman discusses challenges facing healthcare, physicians, and social services and looks at the history of a Hmong and culture into a highly educational book. The book demonstrates that hindsight is a better teacher of literature in healthcare but does not give solutions for improving medical staff. In 1997 Ann Fadiman wrote a book that describes the cultural clash between the medical system and the Hmong family in a hospital located in California. The analysis takes us to the discussion of how Fadiman’s content relates to the impacts of culture in the healthcare system. This paper includes analysis of the organization culture, trending, and current issues in the field of health care and cultural competence and its critical perspectives in the health sector.

Organization culture

Leaders design and shapes the health policies and healthcare systems and the workforce that sustains them. The notions of cultural competence in an organization have its deep origin going back to many decades. The application of cultural values and ideas began in the United States after the war period, which indicated that culture in healthcare sectors and other organizations was a vital variable in the performance of organizations, especially in the healthcare sector (Nieva & Sorra, 2003). There is a crucial talk among those who take culture as an organization variable and helpful in delivering quality services in the health sector. In health care, cultural competence levels are useful, such as values and artifacts. Values consist of the basis of making sound judgments and differentiating right from wrong behavior. Artifacts are the behavioral and physical manifestation of culture.

In the U.K., a review of policy changes over the past years that appeals for culture change is not new but appeared in many practices. However, talk of culture in health and its impacts beg some challenging thoughts about the underlying substrate in which the change programs are applied. Over many decades interest in culture in health have received research across many industry setting. The value of cultural competence and its impacts in health care is revealed by its capacity to make management decision that enables it to provide the best health care services to the majority and also thrive as a profit-making organization all the time (Nieva & Sorra, 2003).

Culture has a high impact on healthcare. Health is a cultural concept because culture shapes how we see the world and our experiences. Culture aspect tells us more about the fundamental elements of health. It shows how the providers of health care and patients view illness, believes about the cause of the disease, diseases that are stigmatized, and how they are stigmatized.  Also, it shows the health promotions that are practiced, the relationship between health providers and patients. Finally, culture tells us about the degree of compliance and understanding of treatment approaches recommended by the providers of health. Also, culture may affect health in some other ways such as acceptance of diagnosis by an individual, acceptance of preventative measures, and who should be involved when a death occurs.

Emerging and current issues in the healthcare sector

The level of health services and care delivered in the health sector across the globe is significantly determined by professionals who provide health care. In the industry, the patients’ health and safety remain the priority regardless of the stressful and hazardous environment doctors are working in (Davies, Nutley, & Mannion, 2000). It has been a primary aim of medical professionals since the healthcare system was introduced, it is ingrained in the expertise of professionals during their training and throughout their careers. The cultural norms of management practices of conventional healthcare sectors show the importance of the safety and health of all patients to be the priority. Organizations are concerned about making investments in systems, controls, processes, and equipment. Still, all the available resources are put to meet the requirements of patients, and thus leaving an unaddressed balance safety of all the staff and matters in their work–life. It is substantial to maintain worker safety and health of all patients because unsafe and poor conditions in the workplace could bring a higher chance of any errors, which eventually may bring complications to the patient life. Moreover to maintain patient safety and workers safety can only be attained if the workplace and the health matters are taken to be the first (Sikorski, 2009)

In addition to the know problems and issues in the healthcare sector, there are significant trends and developments the social care and health care sector across the world has to come across. These trends and events have led to various occupational safety and health (OSH) problems that should be stated and solved. They are cultural trends such as epidemiological, demographic, technological, and social trends across all countries in the world that affect the current patterns on health care. Some of these current patterns on the health sector include the rising limiting number of healthcare providers, and aging healthcare workers with inadequate new trainees to take part in those professionals who are retiring. Also, the rise of new healthcare methods to deal with acute and chronic diseases; the expansion of technology needing a new level of skills and experience; and in skill level imbalances and working habits.

All the outlined variations affect the workplace environment and, ultimately, on the safety and well-being of healthcare providers. The retention and recruitment are interfered with by the increasing demand for better working conditions and by the declining growing wages. An aging group of individuals, with people requiring care for non-communicable conditions and long-term services, is among other issues. This is changing the emphasis from the hospital-based care to care in our residential places and society levels (Health Services Research Europe, 2011). The reduction of traditionally large families and the rise of rural-urban migration will also result in a niche in the healthcare of disabled and older people. The trend for individuals needing care, support, and essential services, in their homes continues to increase.

Cultural competence and key perspectives trends in health care

Cultural expertise in the healthcare sector has gained popularity as a better strategy to improve and eliminate several ethnic disparities in the healthcare system to create a system that will deliver the best service to the patients despite the gender, ethnicity, language race and cultural proficiency (Betancourt, Green, Carrillo & Park, 2005). But to bring all this into a fruitful action, it requires effort to be made by all healthcare sectors, each with a different approach, motivation, and leverage ideas. As a result of cultural competency, the United States has become more diverse with how physicians see patients with different views.

Furthermore, increased sensitivity of gender outlook roles and programs that reinforce the efficiency of family-friendly programs have recruited quality staff that brings the provision of better health care and better working environments for all. Some further aspects such as religion, sex, and sexual orientation have attributed to the policy changes that provide a ripple effect on the ways of handling patients. Disability has also resulted in a paradigm shift of how traditional jobs were initially often done. Compiling insurance claims on health and diagnostic of patients nowadays can be comfortably handled by the disabled people trained for telecommuting in innovative health care sectors. This gives opportunities to the minorities and brings a good outlook and the community standing of the healthcare sector (Betancourt et el 2005). The health sector should navigate moral hoops that increase operational efficiency and overall success. Such circles are avoiding patient discrimination while accessing treatment services and also eliminating employment discrimination.

The Healthcare sector carrying out a better cross-cultural understanding, it will minimize the conflicts in the workplace. By doing that, there is a conducive working condition for both staff and patients. Culturally competent employees can make sound judgments without bothering other diverse groups seeking their services. This reduces staff disputes and enhances provisions of quality healthcare services.

Managed care trends

There have been recent trends in managed health care, such as emerging of health insurance companies that have offered health coverage to both patients and doctors as a result of cultural competence in the health sector. It covers the part of the risk of the individual incurring medical expenses by spreading the risk to many people (Erwin & Brownson, 2017). Insurance develops a finance structure after estimating the overall medical cost of health care. Therefore, the insurance services offered by health insurance companies bring a better way of caring for patients. This provides security for all people under the insurance cover.

The health insurance coverage is providing better and improved clinical services to many people in the United States and other countries across the globe. Therefore individuals are becoming less dependent on governmental health agencies in regions with adequate healthcare professionals with the ability to absorb the rising demand and wish to provide access to underserved people. On the other hand, sectors with less supply of health providers, the need for governmental healthcare agencies to establish and expand health services. For instance, in the U.S, some local health departments provide breast exams but do not deliver clinical treatment problems.

Culture on health care education

There have been continuous improvements in health education to bring well-skilled medical graduates to the workforce of the healthcare sector. Currently, there have implementations of critical informants on rising regulatory pressures for graduates and undergraduates medical education, funding opportunities, societal pressures, increasing diversity of patients, faculty students as crucial drivers of culture in the health sector (Milligan, 2007). Despite the cross-cultural teaching efforts are vital and helpful, the informants realized there is a need for a unified conceptual training framework. Many mentioned the best variability in the available quality of training and also cited the faculty member’s education as necessary, given their results as clinical role models.

However, there is still a need for more progress to be made that will make more improvements in the health sector. The topic of learning culture in the healthcare sector has been incorporated into all medical universities to make the students learn the importance of cultural competence in the health sector. The course is aimed at making training students on the effective way of handling patients and understanding each other in a comfortable environment (“Components of Culture in Health for Medical Students: Academic Medicine,” 2020).

Trends in government

The government is making a significant effort by promoting the culture in the healthcare sector. Notably, the government is advancing the cultural agenda to make improvements in the healthcare system in several ways (Lupton, 2014). For example, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), is in partnership with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), has developed a Collaborative measure in health disparities that aimed at addressing ethnic differences in health centers. Various approaches are being enacted to improve health care delivery by the use of excellent improvement methods to population diversities, including developing culturally competent systems of care and strategies for more cross-cultural communications (Betancourt et. el 2005).

The federal state and local governments across the globe are making arrangements in financing healthcare facilities for vulnerable populations in the healthcare sector, culture in healthcare sectors is seen as a proficient approach of giving more access to the patients to access quality care.

Current healthcare Trends in 2019

Healthcare systems are considered to generate more revenue when using a fee-for-service (FFS) model. A person in an emergency room or a medical officer office becomes an expense under the value-based model rather than a source of revenue. Healthcare sectors are moving to the value-based model at a higher rate as compared to the previous years, but succeeding hospitals need to follow the health plans. First, the health system is collaborating and conversing with health plans. Health plans have a complete dataset for patients, which henceforth will improve cultural competence in the healthcare sector. To manage care, healthcare providers require health plans for their expertise and technology, and also health plans require providers since they have an understanding of the active clinical services (“Health care outlook for 2019: Five trends that could impact health plans, hospitals, and patients”, 2020).

Healthcare systems are continuing to focus on the patient’s needs rather than the illness. This is an emerging issue that is changing the culture in healthcare for both patients and physicians. The Medicare Access and Chip Reauthorization Act (MACRA) is bringing some changes in the hospitals and healthcare systems. The research shows that MACRA increased the relationship between healthcare systems and health plans. Ideally, these changes are vital issues that bring cultural competence in healthcare. The relationship between the health plans and healthcare systems brings an advantage of sharing risk and promotes effectiveness.

Technology is moving at a higher pace in the healthcare sector and moving patients to the center. Professionals utilize most of the time working on non-clinical paperwork, which takes the time they spend with the patients. More innovations have been done on the ways to solve the problem. Robotics, artificial intelligence, and other technologies have been improved to relieve some of the physician’s duties.

The focus on population health is increasing at a higher rate. Population health is taking a broader look at the outcomes of management in all healthcare systems and services delivered to the patients. The population health is making an effort to use the available healthcare facilities more effectively to add value to the well-being of some specific people in the world. Population health is a culture emerging issue that will consider looking at the management outcomes in the healthcare sector (“Health care outlook for 2019: Five trends that could impact health plans, hospitals, and patients”, 2020).

Conclusion

This paper discussed the cultural issues, and it impacts on the healthcare industry. The culture is a critical aspect to take attention in any organization and especially in the healthcare sector. Culture affects the relationship between the patients and the healthcare providers in all hospitals. The cultural activities associated with healthcare in health departments, including nursing departments, as while as patients’ activities were all discussed in this paper. The current emerging issues and trending issues in the healthcare sector are all outlined. A good culture promotes efficiency and effectiveness in the healthcare sector. It brings medical staff together and works as a team toward the achievement of goals. In the case of patients, they are likely to attend to the hospital, which has better services and commitment by the medical professionals, but this can only be achieved when management implement cultural strategies that will bring better results at the end of the day.

References

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