A Comparison of Healthcare Practices Essay

Submitted By KellyMJones
Words: 2128
Pages: 9
Open Document
A Comparison of Healthcare Practices

Kelly Marie Jones

Introduction to Cultural Anthropology: ANT 101

David Jenkins

September 2, 2013

As a society, Americans generally use conventional western medicine for most of our health care needs, but is it the best option? When we look at other cultures and their healthcare practices, it is easy to see that there are many different ideas about what constitutes “health care.” Our healthcare system is impersonal, aloof, and is in the habit of finding a ‘quick fix’ for our health issues, instead of looking at the root or cause of the problem. With the growing number of deadly diseases that continue to make their way through our society, it is time to look at how others view and implement their healthcare into their societies. There are a number of different cultures who continue to use alternative and natural approaches to healthcare, including the Native Americans, the Indians, and the Chinese; and this paper will compare their healthcare practices of those cultures with each other, as well as with our own.
Native Americans have a long history of taking a very spiritual and holistic approach to their health and wellness. As a whole, they believe that everything is connected, therefore a physical health problem must be addressed with a mental and spiritual approach. To understand their approach, we must first understand their beliefs in what health is, because it is very different from our cultural approach to healthcare. “While the western medical view typically equates healing with curing, from a Native American perspective, healing is more akin to recovering one’s wholeness or to reestablish harmony with nature,” (as cited in Rybak, 2009, p. 334, para. 5). Native Americans believe that everything around them in their environment has a spirit, including the trees, rocks, rivers, and the animals. In order to reach their full potential for health, there has to be a spiritual balance between the individual and the spirits that surround them. So when someone has some type of health issue (whether it be physical or emotional), they believe that they are out of balance with nature and spirits, therefore they need to address what is out of balance. They take everything into account, not just the particular health concern.
Native Americans seek the Red Path and use the Medicine Wheel to get there. “The Red Path is characterized by traditional Native American cultural values such as establishing a feeling of belonging, a sense of mastery, respect for independence, and promotion of generosity and unselfishness (as cited in Rybak, 2009, p. 335, para. 2). In order to seek wholeness, individuals within the community associate the Red Path with being the way to emulate wholeness, which is the optimum and healthiest way to live. Whenever someone has a health concern, it is because they have lost their way on the Red Path, or have fallen out of balance with the spiritual world. In order to get their balance back and to heal, the use of the Medicine Wheel aids them. “The Medicine
Wheel serves to orient one according to the cardinal directions as well as within the many aspects of life associated with the different directions,” (Rybak, 2009, p. 335, para. 3). The Medicine Wheel is a circle, which symbolizes that everything is connected and endless. There are 4 spokes within the Medicine Wheel, each pointing towards different directions that symbolize different aspects of life (Rybak, 2009). The spoke that points east symbolizes the rising sun, and represents spirituality. The spoke that points south symbolizes daylight and their connection to nature. The spoke that points west symbolizes the setting sun, and represents the physical aspects of life. Last, the spoke that points north symbolizes cold winter winds and snow, and represents the cognitive aspects of their lives (Rybak, 2009). The
Show More

Related Documents: A Comparison of Healthcare Practices Essay

The Best Healthcare System In The United States

The United States could be the best healthcare system in the world, but I believe that in its current state it is not. 45 million Americans are uninsured as well as many others who have poor insurance coverage. The great disparity between those that have coverage and those that do not causes major barriers for Americans as many postpone treatment and as a result, their illnesses worsen (www.newyorktimes.com, 2007). The large gap in access to adequate healthcare has affected the quality of life, life…

Words 1416 - Pages 6

Price Transparency In Healthcare

Primary goals of healthcare reform include the core principles of reducing healthcare spending and providing a cost-effective, high-quality care. Improving healthcare price transparency is a key piece to this puzzle in the form of tools that allow consumers to compare prices for healthcare services among multiple providers. However, current legislation and healthcare practices are lacking in the areas of price transparency. Will 2017 be the year greater transparency in healthcare costs is achieved…

Words 1016 - Pages 5

John Hopkins Nursing Evidence-Based Practice Model

Catherine great post! Your comparison of the two models was very clear. I had chosen to evaluate those two models as well and came to the same conclusion that the clinical scholar model would match my organization the best. It sounds as if one of the big driving factors to choosing a clinical scholar model for you was the workshop which was one of my reasonings as well. I had done some research on the John Hopkins Nursing Evidence-Based Practice Model and they actually offer a program as well but…

Words 224 - Pages 1

CH 1 Learning Outcomes Utcomes Essay

CH 1 Professional Nursing Practice Learning Outcomes 1. Describe the professional nursing practice in terms of domain, definitions, and recipients of care. Domain- offer skilled care to people recuperating and recovering, advocate PT rights, help PT make informed decisions, support PT and caregivers at any time, help them navigate complex healthcare system. Definitions- The diagnoses and treatments of human responses to actual and potential health problems. Where these recipients receive care-…

Words 556 - Pages 3

Essay about Evolution Of Healthcare

Systems Sonya Smith HCS 533 02/16/2015 Dr. Kevin Lett The Evolution of Health Care Systems Healthcare facilities has changed drastically over last 20 years in more ways than one. They have completely changed from what they were then to what they are now. The needs of patients and society has changed, the way technology is used is more advanced now than ever before, and the cost of healthcare is dropping. Another key important note is how health care information systems have progressed in medicine…

Words 1305 - Pages 6

Health Disparities Research Paper

Addressing Healthcare Disparities in Rural Communities Disparities of any kind are an issue that everyone has been aware of at some point in their lifetimes. Disparities are no foreign concept to rural communities worldwide, with access to healthcare being one of the most significant disparities in these communities, no matter where. Unfortunately, barriers such as accessibility, availability, affordability, and lack of funding prevent some communities from living quality lives. The World Health…

Words 2252 - Pages 10

Future Trend in Healthcare Essay

Running Head: Future Trends in Health Care Future Trends in Health Care The face to face method of interaction will always be the basis of physician-patient relationship. The effect of technology within the field of healthcare has impacted the healthcare delivery system in a revolutionary manner. A health care delivery system is that combination of insurance companies, employer groups, providers of care and government agencies that work together to provide health. The advancement rate of technology…

Words 1681 - Pages 7

Vulnerable Groups: Elderly Population

What can we considered to be best practices or do we continue to offer inferior health care to the vulnerable population. (Kilbourne, 2006) One must look at the cost that it takes to care for this population. In health care practice we must find ways to reduce the cost of care and only then will the gap of disparity will be no longer. In 1993, over 3.3 million elderly adults in the United States had a healthcare need in which they weren’t taken care of due to the cost that…

Words 867 - Pages 4

Quality Improvement In Healthcare

There is one established goal amongst health care professionals and that is to provide their patients with a high level of quality healthcare. Health care quality is the degree to which health services, for individuals and populations, increase the likelihood of desired health outcomes and are consistent with current medical knowledge. Quality improvement is mostly process management. Since health care is a complex system, we would need to target different processes at a time. ”Meaningful quality…

Words 922 - Pages 4

Cohealo Case Study In Health Care

A comparison is made below by keeping the patients, providers and manufacturer’s point of view in mind. The outlook on BI in healthcare can have various domains for the stakeholders in the Healthcare sector: Perspective of providers: With the integration of BI the providers are benefited more as the industry is going a lot of technological transformation. In order to have cost cutting for the hospitals Cohealo created an application that helps in pooling the equipment, shares the data sources within…

Words 1019 - Pages 5