Ethics In Public Health Case Study

Ethics in Public Health Case Study

Your Name

Institution

Ethics in Public Health Case Study

Question 1

Cultural competence in health care means that an institution has the skills and knowledge to work according to cultural background of patients. A health care institution works efficiently by adopting the cultural background of the region and people. Cultural competency helps health care institutions to provide good and equal services to each patient (M Tervalon, 1998). Health care professional should be aware of the patient's cultural sensitivity and beliefs. Health care personnel who understand the culture of the community should be hired to ensure cultural competence in an institution. Educational material and proper training on health and cultural competence are required for effective results. Cultural competence in a health care institution limits based on skills and knowledge of an institution (Sue, 2001).

Question 2

Covenant Health Centre's approach should be changed by demand for services according to the community. Most communities changes and grows with time, health care institutions should also change for its survival and effectiveness (JS Akin, 1995). The mission statement of the Covenant Health Center establishes providence of health care to the community based on their neighborhood. For example; if the community have 95 percent African American present, the health care system should be designed which can facilitate and handle African Americans. Most African Americans do not satisfy with the physicians and their recommendations. Low quality of physician-patient relation and interaction are the reasons for lower patient satisfaction. A mission should focus on facilitating the community by adopting its cultural beliefs and backgrounds.

Question 3

Reducing the health care workers to a part-time position is not a good option, as the employees are depended on their incomes from a fulltime job. Employee and their families are depended on full-time salaries and are part of the community in which institution is serving. An employee may even leave the job when they are reduced to a part-time position, and they may find a new job with a full-time position. Now the institution is down to only two employees and there is a need to train new employees. By hiring a part-time Spanish-English interpreter may help in increasing the effectiveness of an institution whose mission is to provide culturally competent health care services to the community. On the other hand, reducing health care workers and laying them as a part-time employee is not a good option.

Question 4

The approach of reducing health care worker or making them part-time employee should not be considered due to many reasons. According to the case study, a great number of patient's are coming to the institution from other neighborhoods. This case is contradicting with the mission statement of an institution which promises to provide health care services to the resident of community. More funding and a new mission statement are required to facilitate the patients form other neighborhoods. To address this issue, the institution should strictly facilitate only the patient from its community. In this way, a lot of expenses can be cut down and two new Spanish-English interpreter employees can be hired. Moreover, an institution should increase its fundraising by also approaching the neighboring communities and facilitate patients coming from those communities.

Question 5

Public health organization should provide awareness to its employees on how to treat people with different ethical and racial groups. Employees should be educated on the cultural practices and beliefs of the community. Health care employees should be aware of how the community sees health care. Employees should also be educated about the potential deceases that a community may have. Cultural competency means respecting, understanding, and identifying the beliefs and values of others (M Tervalon, 1998). Workers should be well aware of the community in which they are working for the effectiveness of health care.

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY JS Akin, D. G. (1995). Quality of services and demand for health care in Nigeria: a multinomial probit estimation. Social Science & Medicine. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/027795369400274W

M Tervalon, J. M.-G. (1998). Cultural humility versus cultural competence: A critical distinction in defining physician training outcomes in multicultural education. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 117-125. Retrieved from https://muse.jhu.edu/article/268076/summary

Sue, D. (2001). Multidimensional facets of cultural competence. The counseling psychologist. Retrieved from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0011000001296002