Worlds Apart: A Series on Cross-Cultural Health Care; Part 3

Many researchers have studied patient--physician communication and documented the tensions and misunderstandings often seen in this important process. But these concerns are far greater when the patients are minorities or don't understand English well, and when doctors aren't equipped to explain the intricacies of care to people whose cultural beliefs may make American medicine a mystery.

Award-winning filmmakers Maren Grainger-Monsen, M.D., and Julia Haslett explore these issues in a series of films called Worlds Apart, which document the experiences of minority Americans and patients from other countries in the U.S. health care system. This unique project, made with partial support from The Commonwealth Fund, dramatizes communication between patients and their doctors, tensions between modern medicine and cultural beliefs, and the ongoing burdens of racial and ethnic discrimination.

In this film, Justine Chitsena, a 4-year-old girl from Laos, needs surgery for a congenital heart defect. Her grandmother adheres to traditional Laotian and Buddhist beliefs and worries that the scar will affect Justine's spirit in her subsequent lives, while her mother worries that her family will blame her if something goes wrong.

For more information on these films, please visit The Commonwealth Fund website at www.cmwf.org

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• health
• care
• policy
• underserved
• minorities

[trucking42witness]

This is great to see other cultures belief systems! I am hopeful this child was healed!