Suggest interventions to be made according to the situation and express
Suggest interventions to be made according to the situation and express your opinion on the contribution of technology in cultural diversity.
When Ellen began her clinical rotation on a large reservation of American Indians (Lakota), her thinking revolved around what she could teach community workers.
He spent days traveling many miles with several community health representatives (CHRs).
These were Indian-American men and women who had about 1 month of training (sometimes in addition to other trainings and student experiences).
They then took on roles as providers, visiting the homes of other tribesmen, doing routine and basic care, and acting as liaisons between the Indian-American population and the biomedical system.
Gradually, Ellen realized how Lakota culture shaped the perceptions of CHRs and other residents about health and disease and their expectations of treatment and care.
As the weeks passed and Ellen learned to be open to new ways of knowing and doing things, her interpretations changed, as indicated by her following journal entries:
Week 1: “CHRs don’t really do anything. They just go and drink coffee and sit and visit.”
Week 2: “I think they only visit because they don’t know what else to do. They even talk about themselves and their children’s problems. And everyone is very quiet. Sometimes, they barely talk about the patient’s problem.”
Week 3: “You know, something happens when CHRs visit, but I don’t know what it is. I don’t see how his visit works, but I see that people appreciate it.”
Week 4: “Patients do what CHRs want them to do. Something happens, but I don’t understand it; they never really tell patients what to do.”
Week 5: “I still don’t see how the visit works when the CHRs don’t do much instruction. They do other things: wash the long hair of the quadriplegic man, wear pressure ulcers, weigh babies, but above all they visit. Somehow it works.”
Week 6: “I got it. Visiting is what CHRs do. That’s the important thing and how they intervene. It’s because of the visit that patients respond, not because of what CHRs do when they visit.”
