There is no strong consensus on what is meant by the concept of “culture.” Anthropologists and behavioral scientists note that it is “an abstraction … , a generalization extrapolated from the specific material products, interactions, or ideations. … We do not, in fact, observe culture; we observe phenomena that we choose to group together and label culture.” (1) As applied to the health-care setting, “Culture defines how health care information is received, how rights and protections are exercised, what is considered to be a health problem, how symptoms and concerns about the problem are expressed, who should provide treatment for the problem, and what type of treatment should be given.” (2) (3) In short, culture is the lens through which one views the world, affecting everything that an individual perceives and does, often at an unconscious level. Although common use often treats the term...
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March 2011
Online-only Article|
March 01 2011
Ethics for the Pediatrician: Providing Culturally Effective Health Care
Alissa Hurwitz Swota, PhD;
Alissa Hurwitz Swota, PhD
*Department of Philosophy, University of North Florida; Wolfson Children's Hospital, Jacksonville, FL.
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D. Micah Hester, PhD
D. Micah Hester, PhD
†Division of Medical Humanities/Pediatrics, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences; Arkansas Children's Hospital, Little Rock, AR.
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Author Disclosure
Drs Hurwitz Swota and Hester have disclosed no financial relationships relevant to this article. This commentary does not contain a discussion of an unapproved/investigative use of a commercial product/device.
Pediatr Rev (2011) 32 (3): e39–e43.
Citation
Alissa Hurwitz Swota, D. Micah Hester; Ethics for the Pediatrician: Providing Culturally Effective Health Care. Pediatr Rev March 2011; 32 (3): e39–e43. https://doi.org/10.1542/pir.32-3-e39
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