Question
Essay questions – Exam 3
Answer one of the following questions:
1) On page 209, Shipler notes that “class, culture, and language place barriers between patients and doctors.” Discuss some of the ways to overcome these barriers.
2) Shipler argues that elementary school children dream of becoming doctors, lawyers, and other professionals, but by high school, they have lost these dreams. Explain why.
3) Shipler identifies many obstacles to effective job training within the working poor. Discuss some solutions to these problems.
Essays are to be two pages in length. They are to be double spaced with 12-point, Times New Roman font. List only your name at the top and indicate which question you are answering. Do not put anything else at the top of the page.
Answer
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- On page 209, Shipler notes that “class, culture, and language place barriers between patients and doctors.” Discuss some of the ways to overcome these barriers.
It is possible for barriers that exist between patients and doctors to be overcome. These barriers often take the form of culture, class and language place. In the cases where these barriers are not demolished, patients suffer since they are unable to express themselves in front of medical specialists. On the other hand, medical specialists are unable to do their best in terms of professional performance because of the communication breakdown between them and their patients.
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Class barriers can be easily overcome through open discussions between the two parties. The doctors should play the biggest role of inviting the patient to a friendly discussion that knows no class borders. Doctors who perceive a class difference between themselves and their patients cannot benefit from an open discussion of their patients’ problems.
Likewise, patients should do their part in downplaying negative perceptions that make them feel inferior in the presence of their doctors, most of whom they may perceive to belong to a much higher social class. In most cases, these perceptions are unfounded and are often perpetuated through stereotyping.
Cultural barriers are also easy to deal with if the right approaches are adopted by both patients and their doctors. However, it easier for doctors who work in cosmopolitan areas, typically in urban areas, to adapt to various cultures of their patients compared to doctors who work in culturally homogenous regions, especially in rural areas.
On the part of the patients, interactions with doctors as well as other patients help to ease the tension associated with the task of facing people whose cultural practices appear completely alien to one’s own. Cultural diversity should be used as a tool for building unity rather than the division between patients and doctors. Patients should understand that medicine transcends cultural boundaries. They should understand that all doctors who practice modern medicine apply the same principles regardless of their cultural backgrounds.
Language barriers may cause a serious problem for both doctors and their patients. One of the ways of solving this problem is hiring the services of an interpreter. As a long-term measure, people who live in bilingual societies should try and have a ‘working’ knowledge and understanding of the most commonly used languages in their localities. Such an understanding works out very well in building cohesion among communities as well as making it possible for doctors and nurses to communicate freely.
In situations where social stratification tends to be clearly defined along tribal and linguistic lines, dealing with the language barrier also entails confronting the issue of social classes. Some people may be reluctant to learn the language of the socially dominant group for fear that this will be seen as bowing to imperial machinations of the economically superior ethnic group. Overcoming such perceptions is a very important part of dealing with the whole range of barriers to communication existing between medical practitioners and their patients.
In conclusion, for all these barriers to be overcome, the changes should be facilitated by the existing institutions. All policymakers in the healthcare industry should put in place measures that make it easy for the gap between the poor and the rich to be bridged in the process of providing health care. For instance, it would be good to abolish healthcare systems that are stratified on the basis of social classes.