Socio-Cultural Issue Facing Health-Care Leaders

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Table of Contents

Introduction
The Socio-cultural issues facing leaders in the healthcare industry
Conclusion
Reference List

Introduction

Background of the ethical analysis

The status of the healthcare industry is characterized by the increased cost of service provision and accessibility, increasing incidences of medical pollution in addition to environmental pollution in the hospitals, which has been linked to cases of illnesses related to environmental pollution. Kreisberg (2008, p.38) documents that research done by the WHO’s ecosystem assessment department indicates that about 25% of the current illnesses are associated with poor environmental conditions surrounding the patients and the community at large. The research also documents that almost 60% of the environment-related benefits are rapidly undergoing degradation. The work of environmental management has been left to rest squarely on the shoulders of the environmental activists. It is quite evident that the work is overwhelming and cannot be managed by these activities only. Therefore, the field of medicine and health care has a role in promoting environmental sustainability in terms of encouraging the practice of green health care. Green health care is an approach that encourages professionals in this field to work in clean environments, encouraging environmental sustainability and carrying out their practices in a manner that encourages green health care.

Another issue facing the healthcare industry currently is the cultural and linguistic competency of health care professionals. This issue is pivotal in ensuring that patients receive quality healthcare services. People of different racial affiliations visit healthcare clinics and hospitals. Therefore, healthcare professionals must maintain the highest degree of linguistic competency in service provision to ensure that the quality of the healthcare facilities and services is maintained.

Lack of linguistic competency in the healthcare systems has been cited as the major issue underlying the socio-cultural problems facing the healthcare industry currently. These problems include racial and ethnic discrimination in healthcare service provision in addition to gender-based discrimination. The socio-cultural differences between the healthcare providers are also cited as being a major obstacle that impairs communication between the two parties hence the need for linguistic competency among the healthcare professionals. The essay provides an in-depth account of the issues highlighted above which have been shown to affect the quality of healthcare services. The essay also gives an account of how the issues are handled in addition to the outcomes of these interventions. Finally, the essay provides a personal account of how the issue can be dealt with in the future.

The Socio-cultural issues facing leaders in the healthcare industry

What is the issue?

Kreisberg (2008) cites inaccessibility of services, rising health care costs, escalating medical pollution, and environmental pollution as the major challenges dogging the health care sector management. Kreisberg posits that World Health Organization’s (WHO) Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005 attributed disease burden to poor environment quality occasioned by degradation of environmental resources. This comes about because of unsustainable management practices. Leaders in medicine and health care have failed to provide leadership that is vital for realizing a healthy environment that caters to the present generation’s livelihood and the generation to come. This mundane duty has been left for environmental activists who hitherto win these environmental warfares. Health-care professionals are better placed about shaping the future of our environment.

Gilbert et al. (n.d.) posit that the cultural and linguistic competency of health care professionals is very pivotal in running a health care facility accessed by people of different races, different gender, varying ages, diverse linguistic backgrounds, sexual orientation, faith, socioeconomic and varying levels of education. The study indicates that in American society, ethnic minorities like African Americans and the Amerindians are less likely to receive equal medical procedures like the dialysis of kidney and kidney transplants due to racial and ethnic disparities in health care. Racial and ethnic discrimination is contributed by healthcare systems, providers of healthcare services, patients, and utilization managers. Racial prejudice, stereotyping, bias, and health care providers’ clinical uncertainty are some of the factors that contribute to racial and ethnic disparities in health care systems. Communication is heavily influenced by socio-cultural differences between patients and providers of health care. A case study of how impaired communication can hinder the prevention of diseases affecting the general population was one conducted in the state of New York. The study was meant to assess the awareness levels among the population for oral cancers, it is documented that lack of awareness occasioned by socio-cultural differences is the major barrier towards early diagnosis and detection of such cancers (Cruz et al., 2007, p.2).

How was the issue handled?

The future of our environment squarely lies on the ease with which our health institutions embrace the aspect of green health care. Green health care integrates practices that guarantee a sustainable future for medicine with the aspects of physicians and patients. The environment has to be taken into consideration. The major components of green health care include working in a clean and healthy health facility, healthy environment advocacy, and sustainable practice of medicine. Incorporation of green health care practice involves embracing integral theory otherwise known as integral methodological pluralism. It ensures balanced integration of objective and subjective perspectives. It also brings on board individual and collective faces of human experiences and knowledge. The integral theory model considers several factors that affect patients. It comes up with a balanced view of the patient’s condition like genetics, psychological mishaps, chemical toxicity, and cultural neglect. The integral approach utilizes Wilber’s four quadrants in a solution to healthcare problems. This includes the body, mental and emotional stature, cultural issues on health and disease, and social and environmental factors that impact health and disease (Kreisberg, 2008, p.39).

Green buildings movements have been set up to create a healthy workplace for occupants of buildings housing health facilities and the local community where the facilities are built for the sustainability of the global environment. Green hospitals are normally built with the intent of conserving energy, reducing solid wastes by recycling, conserving water, and preventing pollution. Such facilities are built using sustainable technologies. Green hospitals pay much attention to the environmental consequences of the work ethics of patients and health care professionals in a health facility. In green hospitals, patients are guaranteed public transportation and take-back options for unwanted drugs. It is the preserve of medical practitioners to promote the value of a healthy environment as the growing concern of environmental illnesses emanate from the hospital setup. Medical practitioners should take the initiative of educating the general public about local environmental health issues. Cross-disciplinary dialogue has made experts in environmental medicine and public health look for amicable solutions to environmental problems that emanate from the hospitals. A new perspective of ecology has to be developed which incorporates personal and environmental ecology. This stands to improve personal and environmental health. Physicians should be environmentally aware as well as look at environmental issues that affect their patients. Health professionals should consider incorporating sustainability to emphasize on prevention of diseases. Resource allocation in the healthcare sector should take into consideration the conservation of human, economic and environmental capital to shift into a sustainable economy.

In a bid to curtail cultural disparities that dogged health care provision, the united states department of health and human services set up centers of excellence. These centers have come up with programs that meet mental and oral health. Social service needs of the general population were also brought into perspective. Inability to communicate in a common language compels people to cope with frustrating limitations. The quality of care a patient receives at a health institution is impacted by the inability to communicate in a common language. A health care professional who is linguistically competent understands the intrinsic cultural meaning of a message. This is enhanced by the fact that these people share the same language and culture. Health expert linguistic competence is influenced by his or her knowledge, skills, and attitude. The centers of excellence demonstrate the commitment of an institution to under-represented minority health issues while eliminating disparities that exist.

The centers of excellence strengthen and expand educational programs to enhance the academic performance of underrepresented minorities in school. Cultural and linguistic competence training for health care professionals increases their self-awareness, as well as their understanding of the central role culture, plays in the provision of good health care to patients. It also enhances clinical excellence and strong therapeutic alliances with the patients. Training reduces health care disparities by improving the quality and cost-effectiveness of healthcare for the patient population. Centers of excellence that offer cultural and linguistic education should integrate aspects of race, ethnicity, class, and age in coming up with definitions for cultural and linguistic competency. Efforts to train health care professionals should be incremental starting with linguistic competency training to complex and integrated approaches. Linguistic competence training of healthcare professionals should look into an individual’s attitude, knowledge, and skills. Communication and development of therapeutic alliances with all types of patients by practitioners should take into account the process-oriented tools.

What was the outcome?

As indicated above, promoting a healthy environment should involve a change in the normal practices of medicine to encourage environmental sustainability. The emergence of major changes in the global climate necessitated the participation of different partners in the reversal of environmental damages. This has also seen a change of attitude among the patients in terms of embracing the possible solutions provided in the above discussion. Besides, physicians and other care providers are becoming increasingly aware of environmentally affiliated illnesses. Moreover, a case study in the state of California involving cross-sector efforts to stop air pollution that was the major cause of Asthma among the children in the state indicates that there is power in a cross-sector collaboration in terms of using resources effectively for environmental sustainability. The practice of cross-sector collaboration has ensured the conservation of resources and the improvement of outcomes (Kreisberg, 2008, p.40).

The assessment report on the importance of the centers of excellence set up to inculcate cultural and linguistic competencies among the healthcare professionals indicates that these centers have been upfront in executing their legislative mandate. The centers have been training the professionals with a high frequency on the topic, “Different Population Groups.” The topic gives these professionals information on the various health-care-related beliefs among different ethnic groups and multiculturalism (Cruz et al., 2007, p.182). However, the participants who were cross-examined indicated that resources have not been sufficient in incorporating the training into the educational system for healthcare professionals.

As a future health care leader, how would you deal with this issue?

Work environments that support the healthcare professional’s health and that of patients and local communities should be embraced as the first step of encouraging green health care. The practice of medicine should prioritize the prevention of illnesses that are related to poor environments around the clinics and hospitals. Office programs like safe medical waste disposal should be initiated. Environmental issues have to form the core of the practice. Health-care professionals should work hand in hand with civic and environmental leaders to encourage green clinic and hospital environments.

Cultural and linguistic competencies should be given top priority to bridge the gaps existing between the cultures and ethnic groups. Centers such as the CEOs discussed above should be incorporated into the educational system at an early period in the life of healthcare professionals, particularly in the nursing and medical schools.

Conclusion

The paper has given an elaborate account of the socio-cultural issues facing the healthcare industry currently. The issues identified in this case are the increasing cost of service provision in clinics and hospitals, environmentally related healthcare issues, and the socio-cultural issues affecting the quality of services delivered in the healthcare industry such as healthy-related cultural beliefs among different ethnic groups.

It is documented that most of the illnesses affecting world populations are related to poor environmental conditions prevailing in the clinic or hospitals and the community in general. The poor conditions are also because of the poor disposal of hospital wastes. Therefore, it is the role of healthcare professionals to ensure that they limit the amount of waste released into the environment to encourage environmental sustainability.

On the other hand, lack of cultural and linguistic competencies was cited as being one of the issues facing healthcare professionals in their efforts to provide quality services. The establishment of centers of excellence for training healthcare professionals on various healthy-related beliefs has received positive feedback in terms of limiting cases of racial and ethnic discrimination in service provision and prevention of illnesses at an early stage.

Therefore, for the healthcare industry to contribute to environmental sustainability, green health care should be embraced in addition to the initiation of programs that aid patients in taking care of their environments. Moreover, cultural and linguistic competencies should be encouraged to ensure quality healthcare services for all.

Reference List

Cruz, D. G., Shulman, L. C., Kumar, J. V. and Salazar, C. R. (2007). The cultural and social context of oral and pharyngeal cancer risk and control among Hispanics in New York. J Health Care Poor Underserved, 2007 November; 18(4): 833-846.

Gilbert, J. and Soto-Greene, M. L. (n.d.). Transforming the face of health professions through cultural and linguistic competence education: the role of the HRSA centers of excellence. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Health Resources and Services Administration.

Kreisberg, J. (2008). Green medicine: an integral approach that benefits physicians, patients, communities, and the environment. J Integrative Medicine, 6(6): 38-42.

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