Introduction

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5b Assess how intercultural communication can affect interpersonal relationships in the workplace (CLO 1, CLO 3, CLO 4, CLO 5)

Healthcare is described as a critical intersection of culture and medicine, highlighting how our deeply held beliefs about the body, illness, and healing can lead to life-or-death communication challenges. Perspectives on health, risk, and wellness are not universal; they are filtered through cultural myths, family values, and community stigmas. As you read this selection, focus on how different cultures view the origins of illness and treatment. Cultural values like direct versus indirect communication and individualism versus collectivism dictate how diagnoses are shared. Power distance is evident is the way that some cultures put physicians on a pedestal as an authority and refrain from questioning their authority. Prejudice, stereotyping, language issues, and health literacy combine to create a intercultural miscommunications and workplace complexities.

The Human Genome Project (1990-2003) identified 20,000-25,000 genes in human DNA making it possible to efficiently tackle more health-related problems than ever before. What the Human Genome Project couldn't study though was the effect of culture on healthcare. We have learned that effective intercultural communication can mean increased profits or opportunities in many contexts, but in the healthcare setting, effective intercultural communication can impact a patients' physical or mental well-being, as well as their quality of life. This chapter is designed to introduce the complex issues that culture has on both the providers and receivers of healthcare around the world.

Source: Karen Krumrey
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