Specialized Populations Distrust of the Health Care System - Essay Example

Cultural Incompetence, Trans-Cultural Communication, and Segregation

Cultural incompetence has been a big challenge in the healthcare system since there is no particular procedure or body of knowledge that has been confirmed to be the most efficient in for enlightening the healthcare professionals. This can be attributed to the fact that daily actions of cultural incompetence have not been wholly identified or even agreed upon as stated by Benson and Robert (n.d). Healthcare givers are only left with basic of continuous cultural care that starts with unbiased practices hence the distrust.

Another factor that has affected the level of trust in the healthcare system by specialized populations is trans-cultural communication. More emphasis has been laid on tolerating cultures rather than learning to interact with various cultures. The study of trans-cultural communication has risen to significance especially in the healthcare field. This is because healthcare professionals deal with patients of diverse cultures and who have a myriad of beliefs concerning their healing processes. Therefore failure of the professional to understand such cultural beliefs leads to the patient losing trust in them.

Yet another factor is segregation. Most of the population in the US is segregated both in class and race. This can lead to a lack of access to healthcare or access to poor healthcare services because in most cases healthcare professionals tend to provide services to those people of their race or class. Thus in such a case, people are capable of losing their trust in some healthcare systems.

Importance of Trust

Trustworthiness is a very important factor which not only those in health care, but every individual should strive to have. For the healthcare professional, trust is very vital since people usually have high expectations from these professionals as stated by Calnan and Rowe (2006). It is the trustworthiness of a healthcare professional that contributes to the patient’s belief that they will get the right medication. Lack of trustworthiness among healthcare professionals negatively affects the healthcare organization and the people’s health as well.

Historical Perspectives Concerning Trust

Minority health, there has been a perspective that African-Americans experience worse healthcare and health effects compared to white Americans. According to Cook, Kosoko-Lasaki, and O’Brien (2009), in 1963, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and the Kerner Commission in 1968 argued that Negroes had different and inferior health benefits while the white citizens had the best health benefits. Thus both claims led to the African Americans having distrust of healthcare services offered by the whites as they were considered discriminatory.

Current Trends Concerning Trust

In 2003, the IOM made public the issue of unequal treatment based on racial and ethnic disparities. It showed that minorities such as the African-Americans are less likely to get life-saving interventions and most likely to get undesirable procedures such as radical mastectomy. Therefore this further breeds the issue e of distrust in healthcare advice and facilities.