Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Contributors
- United Nations Statement
- 1 Physical and sexual abuse of children
- 2 Intimate partner violence
- 3 Sexual assault
- 4 The geriatric patient
- 5 Mentally ill or cognitively impaired patients
- 6 Immigrants and ethnic minority populations
- 7 Care of victims of torture
- 8 Trafficking victims
- 9 Forensic photography
- Index
- Plate section
- References
6 - Immigrants and ethnic minority populations
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 August 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Contributors
- United Nations Statement
- 1 Physical and sexual abuse of children
- 2 Intimate partner violence
- 3 Sexual assault
- 4 The geriatric patient
- 5 Mentally ill or cognitively impaired patients
- 6 Immigrants and ethnic minority populations
- 7 Care of victims of torture
- 8 Trafficking victims
- 9 Forensic photography
- Index
- Plate section
- References
Summary
Goals and objectives
To better appreciate the role that culture plays in abuse situations
To learn about how a minority patient may perceive the practitioner investigating abuse in order to overcome this potential barrier
To understand how the use of a cultural translator may facilitate the practitioner investigating a potentially abusive situation
Introduction
There is culture-based bias in Medicine. Despite our best efforts and intentions, physician–patient miscommunication and misjudgment abound whenever there is a difference in the cultural background of the people. Unfortunately, many studies demonstrate that patients belonging to an ethnic minority receive unequal treatment and experience poorer outcomes in their medical treatment. Most startling is that this inequity occurs independent of income, insurance, severity of illness, co-morbidities, or any other factors that one might guess could potentially impact care.
Simply put, belonging to an ethnic minority group puts patients at increased risk of misdiagnosis, inadequate treatment, poor preventative care, and a greater occurrence of complications. Unequal treatment for ethnic minorities and immigrants is well documented in many areas of care, including pain control, treatment of coronary artery disease, and screening for malignancies. Of equal, if not greater concern, is the fact that misperceptions and unequal treatment of immigrants and ethnic minorities also occur in the area of abuse.
Immigration data show that there are currently about 30 million residents in the United States who are foreign-born. The annual immigration rate is greater than 10 percent.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Emergency Care of the Abused , pp. 169 - 191Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2008