Assignment: Faith And Diversity

Assignment: Faith And Diversity
Assignment: Faith And Diversity
The practice of health care providers at all levels brings you into contact with people from a variety of faiths. This calls for knowledge and acceptance of a diversity of faith expressions.
The purpose of this paper is to complete a comparative analysis of two faith philosophies towards providing health care, one being the Christian perspective. For the second faith, choose a faith that is unfamiliar to you. Examples of faiths to choose from: Sikh, Baha’i, Buddhism, Shintoism, etc.
In a minimum of 1,500-2,000 words, provide a comparative analysis of the different belief systems, reinforcing major themes with insights gained from your research.
In your comparative analysis, address all of the worldview questions in detail for Christianity and your selected faith. Refer to chapter 2 of the Called to Care for the list of questions. Be sure to address the implications of these beliefs for health care.
In addition answer the following questions that address the practical and healthcare implications based on the research:
What are critical common components to all religions/beliefs in regards to healing, such as prayer, meditation, belief, etc.? Explain.
What is important to patients of the faiths when cared for by health care providers whose spiritual beliefs differ from their own?
In your conclusion, describe your own spiritual perspective on healing, what you have learned from the research and how this learning can be applied to a health care provider.
Support your position by referencing at least three academic resources
The diversity of religions around the world makes providing culturally competent medical care difficult for health care practitioners and institutions.
Cultural competency refers to a health care provider’s or organization’s capacity to provide services that are culturally, socially, and religiously appropriate for patients and their families.
Care that is culturally aware can improve patient quality and results.
Providing cultural competency training and implementing policies and procedures that reduce barriers to providing culturally competent patient care are two strategies for moving health professionals and systems closer to these aims.
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Cultural Competence Deficits Have Consequences
Patients may suffer negative health outcomes, receive poor quality care, and be dissatisfied with their care if doctors and health care systems do not collaborate to offer culturally competent care.
The quality of interactions between patients and health professionals has deteriorated.
Low-quality interactions between patients and healthcare professionals are linked to lower provider satisfaction.
Indeed, African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, and Muslims all claim that the quality of their care has been harmed as a result of their ethnicity or color.
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Why is it important for providers and systems to be culturally and spiritually aware?
The Joint Commission (TJC) holds institutions responsible for upholding patient rights, which includes allowing for ethnic, religious, and spiritual preferences.
Patients must be treated as full persons by healthcare professionals and systems, which encompasses the body, mind, and spirit.
It is critical for healthcare to consider the patient’s cultural and spiritual needs.
Healthcare personnel should be equipped with the information and skills necessary to react to the needs of patients and their families during a time of great stress.
TJC-accredited institutions must demonstrate cultural and religious competency in order to gain or maintain accreditation.
For a variety of reasons, health systems and healthcare providers are creating strategies and approaches to cater to patients’ and families’ religious and spiritual needs.
One reason is that state and federal rules, in addition to TJC, urge institutions to be responsive to demographic diversity.
These tactics are critical to achieving the federal government’s Healthy People aim of eradicating ethnic and racial disparities in health.
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Medical Care That Is Culturally Appropriate
Ethnicity, gender, language, mental ability, nationality, occupation, race, religion, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status all influence a patient’s beliefs, behaviors, and values.
Cultural competency refers to the ability of healthcare providers and systems to comprehend and incorporate cultural intelligence into the delivery of care.
The purpose of culturally competent health care is to give high-quality care to all patients, regardless of their cultural, ethnic, racial, or religious background.
Individuals and systems can improve their cultural competency by using the following strategies:
Encouraging family members to take part in healthcare decisions.
Culture-specific values are being included into health promotion.
Training on cultural sensitivity
Creating an environment that permits traditional healers to practice their craft
Providing translation services
Recruiting minority employees
Patients’ outcomes improve, and the healthcare system as a whole becomes a more positive environment, when individuals and systems are able to provide a positive atmosphere of cultural competency that satisfies the religious and spiritual requirements of those who are cared for.
Healthcare and Religion
What is the significance of religion and spirituality in healthcare?
For the vast majority of patients seeking treatment, religion and spirituality are crucial considerations.
Unfortunately, when making tough medical decisions for patients and their families, health providers may not take religious beliefs into account.
Religious leaders and health care practitioners have frequently overlapped throughout human history.
Medicine has only recently adopted a scientific approach, resulting in a split between medicine and religion.
Understanding that patients frequently appeal to their religious and spiritual beliefs while making medical decisions is a problem for health providers.
Religion and spirituality can influence dietary choices, animal-based medicines, modesty, and the gender of their health-care providers.
Some religions have stringent prayer periods that can cause medical treatment to be disrupted.
Patients’ religious and spiritual needs should be respected by healthcare providers.
Many patients’ worries are alleviated when they resort to their faith in the face of medical issues.
It is critical for healthcare workers to identify and accommodate the patient’s religious and spiritual requirements, as many patients resort to their beliefs when faced with tough healthcare decisions.
Patients’ religious and spiritual views should be discussed with health professionals, and their evaluation and treatment should be tailored to match their individual requirements.