Ruby Lake Community Research Paper

Table of contents

Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 3

Training and Education…………………………………………………………………………………………. 4

Measures of Client and Staff Satisfaction…………………………………………………………………. 4

Dimensions of Quality…………………………………………………………………………………………… 5

Cultural Issues……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 7

Service Protocol Narrative Chart……………………………………………………………………………. 8

Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 9

References…………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 10

Abstract

This paper provides a description of a program that was designed to bring the modern medical staff and the Hmong community together through the inclusion of shamans in the medical practice. The elders in the Hmong community do not trust the hospital and modern medicine. They use natural and faith-based medicine with shaman but they need the services of the modern hospital in order to be healthy. First, the need for training and education of the medical staff and the shamans is explained. Then, three major tools for measuring client and staff satisfaction will be introduced. They are survey, observation, and perception. Three dimensions of quality of healthcare services will be discussed: multicultural communication, competence, and empathy. Several cultural issues such as communication, faith, and identity will be discussed. Finally, the paper also features a service protocol narrative chart.

Training and Education

It is clear that the way in which medical services are provided today should be not only different, but also better than what was witnessed before. That is why the modern doctors feel pressure to provide their services in a manner that would be aligned with the requirements of modern life (Debate, Petersen, Wathington, & Wolfe-Quintero, 2015). This often involves broadening one’s perspective on the interaction with the patients and engagement of aspects that used to be left out of the picture. Thus, it is expected that the doctors will recognize the importance of religious practices for the representatives of the Hmong community through training and education that will familiarize them with the basics of life of these people. This training will be mandatory for the doctors.

Shamans serve an important part of the culture in the Hmong community. They are involved on many occasions largely to provide spiritual support for the people. They inclusion into the process of provision of medical services signifies the adoption of a multidisciplinary approach to the latter (Lalayants, 2013). Indeed, while a shaman will not be performing any activities that will have a direct impact on the health of a client, one will be expected to bridge the gap between the modern medical practice and traditional healing practices. That is why the shamans will be trained and educated to understand the basics of the contemporary medicine so that they will be able to explain it to the patients in a manner that they find acceptable.

Measures of Client and Staff Satisfaction

There are three primary ways in which clients and staff satisfaction associated with the program will be measured. The first included participation in the surveys. It is important to point out that measurement of satisfaction should be seen as an important step in determining the overall effectiveness of the program as it will show the extent to which the participants support it (Levin & Decker, 2008). Surveys require little time both for participation and processing the results; they can be distributed among a significant number of people. All this means them the primary tool that will enable the administration to gain a proper understanding of the satisfaction of the parties involved in the process.

Another useful way that will provide information about the level of satisfaction of both staff and the client is observations. Unlike surveys, the latter take significantly more time to be completed which is their primary weakness. In addition to that, the way in which observation is carried out determines its effectiveness. For example, a person present in the room where a healthcare provider and a patient interact will be able to gain more accurate knowledge regarding the interaction of the two while observation with the help of CCTV will provide only superficial knowledge. One of the major strengths of this tool lies in the fact that it allows a research to see whether a client or a representative of a medical staff is satisfied with the quality of healthcare services in different contexts.

Finally, there is one last tool that should be discussed – perception. In some ways, it is similar to observations with one specific distinction: perception primarily focuses on the subjective perspective that was developed by a person. This means that the latter will be expected to provide one’s views on the situation and state whether one is satisfied with the quality of services or not. The obvious weakness of this tool is that it is heavily influenced by one’s personal views and perspective. On the other hand, the major advantage of it lies in the fact that it often can gain information that cannot be retrieved by any other kind of measurement. That is why it can be particularity insightful.

Dimensions of Quality

When it comes to quality of the provision of healthcare services, one should acknowledge that there are several dimensions of it that should be taken into consideration. The first one is multicultural communication. The latter describes the interaction of two or more actors that represent different cultural backgrounds. In the situation given, the patients will be Hmong and the doctors will be representing a different cultural community. That is why it is an imperative that the latter will develop some basic knowledge of the cultural life of the Hmong so that they will be able to have some common ground. Multicultural communication does not necessarily have to be manifested in verbal signs: there is a lot of non-verbal language signs that the doctors will be expected to master.

Gradually, all this will contribute to the development of multicultural competence of the healthcare providers. According to Papadopoulos and Kelly (2009), this concept is essential when it comes to contemporary medical practice as it allows medical professionals to establish a proper contact with the patients and make sure that the positive effect of the medical procedures is amplified by mutual consensus. There is no doubt that treatment will be less effective if it contradicts the practices that are established in a given community. That is why gaining multicultural competence for the doctors is important as by doing so, they will be able to improve the quality of services and help the patients even more.

Another dimension of quality that should be discussed is empathy. In many ways, it is linked to the dimensions which were discussed above. However, it features one specific distinction that should be mentioned in particular: while multicultural communication and competence primarily rely on objective aspects that can be identified in the interaction between the doctor and a patient, empathy may be seen as a concept that is focused on the subjective perception of the situation (Horevitz, Lawson, & Chow, 2013).  In other words, the doctors are expected to develop empathy so that they will be able to determine the right course of actions. As a result, this is something that cannot be measured using objective tools properly. Nevertheless, this is an important element that should be taken into account while considering the dimensions of quality.

Cultural Issues

There is a number of cultural issues that should be discussed. Give the fact that the parties involved in the process of treatment will be representing different cultural backgrounds, it is essential to make sure that they develop a common perspective on the process so that the positive outcomes of the latter will be amplified. First of all, one should take a close look at communication. It is quite possible that some patients that will be treated in the hospital may not be able to communicate in English (Mistry, Jacobs, & Jacobs, 2009). That is why the doctors will have to be able to explain their actions using gestures or resort to the translation facilitated by the shamans. This might result in some difficulties, but failure to communicate at all will lead to even bigger problems (Ostrander & Chapin-Hogue, 2011).

The second cultural issue to be mentioned focuses on the role that faith plays in the Hmong community. For many people who represent it, the spiritual world is the irreplaceable element of the reality. This means that many events of the daily life, including developing a certain medical condition, are closely related to spirits. This explains the reason why shamans are involved in the process of treatment. The doctors should be able to recognize the peculiarities of the spiritual life of their patients and make sure that the provision of medical services is aligned with their beliefs.

Finally, it may also be useful to carefully examine a variety of issues associated with the Hmong identity. One should keep in mind that this group of people did not immigrate willingly: they fled the war in their own country. As a result, many feel that they are in exile to a certain extent. This means that the Hmong community does its best to protect its cultural practices and prevent assimilation from taking away the most important elements of their lifestyle. This can be a source of serious problems since medical treatment as performed by the modern doctors might potentially compromise some of the practices and the Hmong might choose to follow the latter rather than the former. That is why the doctors should be away from the importance of maintaining Hmong identity for the representatives of this community and make sure that their actions do not lead to the conflict of interests.

Service Protocol Narrative Chart

Process Number Title Procedures Documents
1 Patient enrolls in the hospital The staff working in the hospital ward take care of the patient initially Enrollment form
2 Patient reports health problems Patient makes a preliminary report of the health problems Intake form
3 Patient is assigned a doctor A doctor is assigned to a patient based on the information provided above Data entry form
4 Patient is assigned a ward Patient is shown the ward where one will be staying in the hospital Data entry form
5 Patient is contacted by a shaman A shaman cooperating with the hospital contacts the person Data entry form
6 Patient interacts with the doctor Doctor performs all needed medical operations Data entry form
7 Patient interacts with the shaman Shaman performs all needed spiritual operations Data entry form
8 Patient is discharged from the hospital Patient is discharged since all objectives have been achieved Data entry form
9 Follow-up A doctor and a shaman contact the patient sometime after one was discharged Data entry form
10 Exit Follow-up contacts end by mutual agreements Case closure form

Conclusion

Having examined all the points that were mentioned in the paragraphs above, one is able to come to the following conclusion: the development of interaction between the doctors and the Hmong community is important since it will bring mutual benefits. On the one hand, the patients will be able to enjoy better medical services as the latter will be provided in a manner that they find acceptable. On the other hand, the healthcare professionals will be able to enhance the way in which they interact with the patients and improve their effectiveness. It is expected that this will be facilitated through the inclusion of the traditional spiritual leaders – shamans – into the medical practice so that they bridge the existing gap of distrust.

References

Debate, R. D., Petersen, D. J., Wathington, D., & Wolfe-Quintero, K. (2015). Our Practice Is Our Passion: Development and Delivery of a 21st-Century Doctor of Public Health Program. American Journal of Public Health, 105(S1), S27-S33. doi:10.2105/ajph.2014.302304

Horevitz, E., Lawson, J., & Chow, J. C. (2013). Examining Cultural Competence in Health Care: Implications for Social Workers. Health & Social Work, 38(3), 135-145. doi:10.1093/hsw/hlt015

Lalayants, M. (2013). Multidisciplinary Collaboration in Child Protective Clinical Consultations: Perceptions of Best Practices. Journal of Public Child Welfare, 7(3), 253-274. doi:10.1080/15548732.2013.798245

Levin, A., & Decker, J. (2008). The Assessment of Staff Satisfaction as Compared to Client Satisfaction in Two Department of Social Service Residential Treatment Facilities. Residential Treatment For Children & Youth, 23(3), 61-82. doi:10.1300/08865710802071838

Mistry, J., Jacobs, F., & Jacobs, L. (2009). Cultural relevance as program-to-community alignment. Journal of Community Psychology, 37(4), 487-504. doi:10.1002/jcop.20309

Ostrander, N., & Chapin-Hogue, S. (2011). Learning from Our Mistakes: An Autopsy of an Unsuccessful University–Community Collaboration. Social Work Education, 30(04), 454-464. doi:10.1080/02615479.2010.504768

Papadopoulos, I., & Kelly, F. (2009). Enhancing the cultural competence of healthcare professionals through an online course. Diversity & Equality in Health and Care, 77-84.

The terms offer and acceptance. (2016, May 17). Retrieved from

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freeessays.club (2016) The terms offer and acceptance [Online].
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[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]
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