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6 - Immigrants and ethnic minority populations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 August 2009

Fiona E. Gallahue  and
Laura D. Melville
By
Indrani Sheridan M.D., F.A.C.E.P., F.A.A.E.M.
Fiona E. Gallahue
Affiliation:
Weill Medical College of Cornell University
Laura D. Melville
Affiliation:
Weill Medical College of Cornell University
Indrani Sheridan M.D., F.A.C.E.P., F.A.A.E.M.
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor, Director of International Emergency Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Florida, School of Medicine
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Summary

Goals and objectives

  1. To better appreciate the role that culture plays in abuse situations

  2. To learn about how a minority patient may perceive the practitioner investigating abuse in order to overcome this potential barrier

  3. 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 - 191
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2008

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