The Heritage Assessment Tool

Establishing effective communication with the patient is a critical factor in promoting patient quality care. Good communication is fundamental when providing safe and effective care at the beside in order to increase the quality of patient care. One of the many communicative barriers that exists between patients and the healthcare team are language barriers. Language barriers are considered an initial problem of translation or code-switching. Individuals who speak different languages require a certain code breaker in order to facilitate effective communication (Gregg & Saha, 2007). Furthermore, language barriers may hinder the quality of patient care and interfere with optimal clinical outcomes. According to Happ et al., 2011, nurses have the unique responsibility to engage in communication with patients and have control over the timing and method of communication. Evidenced based interventions such as communication boards are needed to improve nurses’ communication skills in order to achieve effective communication.

doi:10.1177/1363461512444673 Kleinman, A., Eisenberg, L., & Good, B. (1978). Culture, illness, and care: Clinical lessons from anthropologic and cross-cultural research. Annals of Internal Medicine, 88(2), 251. Lemieux-Charles, L., & McGuire, W. L. (2006).

Heritage is a cultural aspect or tradition that has been passed down through generations (Heritage Assessment, 2016). Why would the health professional need to know about a patient’s cultural background? How would this affect the care provided? Health care is specific to the individual needs of a patient, and no two are alike. Nurses should conduct an assessment of the patients’ cultural beliefs, values, religious beliefs, and practices. It is important to learn the meaning of the illness from the patients point of view. Data collected from the cultural assessment will help the patient and nurse to develop a mutual and culturally acceptable plan

Therefore, cultural heritage is the main factor in economic, social, and health promotion of people. Every culture has their own beliefs, values, and perceptions on health and illness. Then, it is imperative for health care providers to assess a cultural heritage on each patient in order to deliver meaningful care for that patient. By using the heritage assessment tool, the three interviewed families revealed some similarities and differences among their health traditions.

The Heritage Assessment Tool (HST) is used to “investigate a given patient’s or your own ethnic, cultural, and religious heritage…it can help determine how deeply a given person identifies with a particular tradition”. (prenhall.com). This assessment of 29 questions based on family, social, cultural, religious and immigration history can be very helpful in identifying the individual’s health traditions and beliefs, which can promote a more culturally competent R.N. Cultural competency is

The world is filled with many cultures and it is important for healthcare professionals to understand most of them, therefore understand their patient. The heritage assessment includes the many factors that may influence a patient’s medical decision such as their religious beliefs and cultural background (Spector, 2009). The heritage assessment is very useful in understanding a patient’s preferred health approach to maintain, protect and restore it. Knowing cultural beliefs and values are very significant because in many cases, they are important to the patient and the beliefs and values influence their health choices. By

The heritage assessment tool is a checklist used by professionals to gain knowledge of patient’s culture and beliefs prior to initiating care. (Spector, 2000). There are many different cultures in this country, brining different beliefs in health, illness, recovery, death, and life. The heritage assessment tool is an important measure towards better understanding of cultural competency, or recognition of diversity. A person’s culture, beliefs, heritage, and language have a substantial impact both as a patient and a health care provider within the health care system. (Spector, 2009).

Heritage assessments are used to appraise the patient’s entire well-being. Such an assessment is done with the goal of trying to understand any possible underlying features of an individual that could have the propensity to affect their health outcome. Using this tool to assess an individual is beneficial when trying to understand the implication of practices within differing cultures and how it affects their health outcome. When a practitioner is sensitive to such differences, he or she displays an understanding of the importance of detecting aspects that may block important correspondence that could in turn negatively affect the patient 's outcome (Wintz, 2009).

cope individually. A person seeking medical care may be accompanied by one or more persons

Every culture is different and perceives the world differently. Cultures are inherited and a learned behavior. Everyone has a cultural heritage. This heritage assessment tool is helpful in understanding the different practices, distinctness and traditions of each individual.

In any case, providing competent care to a patient of a different culture must first start with an understanding of the culture itself (Potter & Perry, 2011). Culture is

Culture is a very important aspect for health care professionals to examine when interacting with their clients. By having an understanding of different cultural practices, a clinician can more effectively treat a patient. Kagawa-Singer, M. & Kassim-Lakha, S. (2003) theorizes that patients resist lifestyle changes, and culture forms lifestyle. Therefore, if physicians attend to the influence of culture on health behavior, outcomes of medical care might well be improved.

Adapting to different cultural beliefs and practices requires flexibility and a respect for others view points. Cultural competence means to really listen to the patient, to find out and learn about the patient's beliefs of health and illness. To provide culturally appropriate care we need to know and to understand culturally influenced health behaviors. However, becoming culturally competent is a much more daunting task. Culture (and ethnicity) often influences a patient’s perceptions of health and illness. Therefore, if healthcare providers appear insensitive to cultural diversity, their actions may negatively affect the quality of the healthcare that they provide.

Being raised in India, attending medical school in Russia and doing externships and researches in the United States have resulted in my mastery of 6 different languages (Hindi, English, Russian, Gujarati, Marathi & Punjabi). These experiences have helped me gain a better understanding of the differences in culture that accompany them and to effectively treat patients of diverse ethnicities and background. Social and cultural factors have a significant impact on medical decisions made by patients and being aware of this, has helped me provide better care for them. Furthermore, I became aware of the importance of fostering lasting physician-patient relationships, and came to appreciate how incredibly rewarding it is to play such an important role in their

There are many cultures out in the world today that practice beliefs different than those in the United States. America is based off Western Culture and traditional medicine practices which focus on preventative and curative medicine. Most cultures around the world practice folk medicine, which focus more on the person as a whole with remedies and ceremonies rather than medicine and treatment. Even though each one believes in a different practice, all medical professionals should have the knowledge and awareness of each culture’s health beliefs to properly treat their patients in a respectful and kind