The Implications of Cultural Diversity for Health Care Practice: an Anthropological Perspective

Preview

PDF, English Download (120kB) | Terms of use Download (120kB)

Abstract

This paper explores the roots of the practical difficulties which doctors and nurses so often encounter in the course of their interactions with South Asian patients, taking issues of hygiene as its central empirical focus. It argues that many of the 'problems' which health care staff encounter in this area are ultimately of their own making, above all because their professional training has not provided them with a sufficient degree of cultural competence to match their technical skills. If this is indeed the case, their overall clinical competence will necessarily be impaired when dealing with a poly-ethnic clientele. Although originally prepared for a BMA Conference held in 1983, the arguments set forth in this paper remain just as relevant as they were two decades ago.