Multicultural Healthcare Team, Case Study Example

All members of the health care team and Phyllis share the concern for the well-being of patients. However, for Phyllis, her aunt’s care is more important than other patients’. Indeed, there is a lack of communication and shared vision that makes care ineffective and out of control in this situation.

The primary means of communication between the members of the team is written reports. This is not the most suitable for collaboration, as there is no two-way discourse and collaborative problem solving involved. The team members “do their job” and record their findings, concerns, but do not follow up on the progress of patients. There are no regular meetings held regarding issues, and this is one of the main problems with team communication. Everybody is trying to complete their part of the job, and leave the rest to others to deal with. Aspects of care are not harmonized appropriately.

Most of the team members are in either the denial or defense stage of intercultural sensitivity. Linda is at the acceptance stage. She is culturally sensitive, however, she states that the majority of staff and patients are of Hispanic background. Phyllis is, even though Caucasians are in minority in the area, is at the denial stage. She does not want to accept people speaking Spanish on the corridor. She has bias and automatically assumes that it is just “small talk”, and staff is not discussing cases. Staff needs to move from ethnocentric stages to ethnorelative stages in order to improve the quality of care provided for all patients.