Honestly, I had a hard time doing research for this week's "culture" because there are way too many countries that make up the Asian continent.  There is no way that one article or one study is able to understand all the different Asian cultures and summarize it into cultural traits of all those people.  I did not appreciate the inference that there is only one Asian culture, but I did research some of the issues that Asian Americans face while trying to find access healthcare here in the United States.

Some of the problems that Asian Americans face when trying to access healthcare in the United States are language barriers, conceptualizing illness, interpersonal relationships and the influence they have over sick individuals.  First, the language barrier exists on many levels.  It is not simply the inability to understand English and needing an interpreter.  Many times Asian people, especially the elderly, are not literate to a standard that US medical pamphlets are printed in.  Also, many times, older Asians are illiterate in their own native languages, as well.  Even if an interpreter can be found, they cannot simply give a pamphlet to the patient and tell them it explains it all.  Also, it is very hard to translate medical information into Asian languages and often the interpreter will translate literally.  This goes hand in hand with conceptualizing illness.  Many Asian countries do not have the words to conceptualize different illnesses or problems within the body.  There is no medical terminology to explain or translate to.  Without a basic medical language, it is impossible to explain illness and procedures from one language to another.  Interpersonal relationships come into play because the family needs and wants outweigh what the individual needs and wants.  Accommodating the family and individual at the same time is very difficult and sometimes clashes against each other.

I know I will have the opportunity to care for an Asian patient in my career, but it honestly seems a little overwhelming trying to communicate what I want to convey even with the use of a translator.  I will have to find a way to make myself understood to both my patient and the patient's family to have good communication and compliancy of care.  I will need to find my boundaries of where I am willing to let the family override the patient and where I am not.  This is difficult and I will need to search how I feel before I can enter a situation like this.

I honestly do not know enough about the many different Asian cultures to be able to form personal feelings about it.  I will say that I love all kinds of Asian food and the Asians I have been able to meet were all very nice and polite.  It has always been my dream to travel to some of these countries, and I hope I will have the opportunity to form some good and happy feelings toward their cultures.