In Compliance

While reading the book, “Caring for Patients from Different Cultures” by Geri-Ann Galanti, I came across a pretty interesting case.

Marietta,* a nurse from the Philippines, was asked to cover for Susan, an American nurse, during her lunch shift. Susan had been caring for a patient who would probably need another dose of pain medication soon and she explained this to Marietta before taking her lunch break.

When Marietta went to administer the pain medicine, the patient also complained about a severe headache. She told the patient to mention the headache to Susan if it didn’t improve. Marietta then administered the pain medication and went on about her duties. She didn’t report the new symptom to Susan or to a doctor. She didn’t check the patient’s history to see if headache might be something serious (like it would be in a patient with hypertension). She didn’t even note it in the record. Sadly, the headache was more than just a headache. The patient ultimately had a stroke and suffered permanent damage.

 

So, what does culture have to do with this?

Culturally, nurses in the Philippines are more like assistants. They are expected to follow doctor’s orders and are not expected to use critical thinking or partake in diagnosis when presented with new information – like a new symptom.

In contrast, nurses in the U.S. are expected to use critical thinking skills at all times. Nurses are accountable for patient’s lives in the same manner as doctors. An American nurse probably would have assessed the patient’s pain levels, documented the new symptom, checked the patient’s chart for other diagnoses where severe headache might indicate an emergency, and increased her check-ins with the patient.

The end result here is that the culture difference in the nursing role and expectation of nurses contributed to a negative outcome for the patient. This highlights how important it is for healthcare entities – and really any business  with a global presence – to have an understanding of the cultures, their team members, and how cultural differences might impact outcomes. Because latent cultural influences often don’t appear until things go very, very wrong, it’s vital to consider culture up-front.

Sometimes an honest mistake can have devastating consequences. From the experience above, to the well-known examples of global marketing campaigns gone wrong, the margin for error is thin. Vocalink Global prides itself in its depth of understanding cultural differences. We have focused language solutions that enhance effective patient communication and enable global marketing communication without misunderstanding.

 

*Names changed to maintain privacy.

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