The divisions of race, culture, and ethnicity are heavily reflected in the health of the US citizenry. Even though there has been significant development in the healthcare sector in the country, national health disparities are still rampant in the incidences of illness and fatality among Asian Americans, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Alaska natives, and Pacific islanders.
For these reasons, health organizations recognize the need to enhance cultural competence among diverse populations.
What Is Cultural Competence?
From a medical perspective, cultural competence refers to the knowledge and skills required by healthcare professionals to provide healthcare to patients of diverse ethnic backgrounds. On the other hand, culture blindness is being oblivious to cultural competence. It leads to medical errors and incompetent healthcare systems.
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How Do Multicultural Health Workers Prevent Diseases For Diverse Populations?
Heath workers undergo rigorous training to ensure that the general public is safe from diseases. Below are some examples of how health workers foster healthcare and assist in disease prevention:
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Adopting the “people first” concept
This concept allows multicultural health workers to view patients of diverse populations as valuable individuals and adopt preventive measures free of bias and stereotypes. The “people-first” philosophy encourages health workers to promote systematic interventions and other equity preventive measures.
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Looking for specific conditions in targeted populations
Health workers are usually trained to look for problematic situations in a targeted population. For instance, obesity, urinary tract infections, and asthma are common symptoms found in gay, bisexual, lesbian, and some physically challenged communities. Mental disorders are also very prevalent among African Americans compared to their white counterparts.
According to CDC, 27% of Alaska native adults smoke cigarettes compared to 13% of white people. For this reason, it becomes imperative for health workers to identify health trends and have detailed records of individual or specific community data while preparing medical treatments.
Extensive record-keeping is done to help health workers make informed decisions regarding transmissible diseases, infant mortality rates, changes in immunization levels, and their occurrences.
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Promoting behaviors that prevent illnesses
Cultural and traditional teachings are critical for the overall wellness and sense of belonging of people from diverse populations. The majority of multicultural health workers support diverse communities through the following strategies:
- Developing social and cultural activities that are vital to community wellness
- Establishing collaborations with mixed people that foster wellbeing
- Promoting intergenerational learning about resilience
- Promoting modern physical activities
- Promoting healthy eating habits, such as preparing own food for consumption
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Community wellbeing
Outside patient care, health workers work with federal and state authorities to sponsor health services for underdeveloped communities. They are also responsible for the management of the budgets of public health programs.
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Following health guidelines
To monitor others and themselves, multicultural health workers follow the guidelines of the CDC and WHO. With this in mind, people of diverse cultures can confide in health workers for an alternate schedule if they show any symptoms of an illness.
In a nutshell, health workers play a vital role in directly assisting physicians in their daily activities. For instance, they evaluate patients’ health and devise innovative treatment plans for patients. They also monitor a patient’s progress when responding to treatment.