Cultural Competence Reflection
Cultural Competence Reflection
Cultural competence is continuum, in the sense that there is always room for self-assessment, improvement and reflection. The first time that I was exposed to the concept of cultural competence in a formal setting was this semester in pharmacy practice. I have always valued learning about different cultures. As a theology minor during my undergraduate years I took a reader course entitled ‘The Catholic Church and American Culture’ in which I learned about the various ways the Catholic church has shaped American culture and vice versa. In addition as a requirement for my ‘Religions of he World’ I was spend ten hours observing, and interacting with those of the Hindu culture. These experiences were valuable and unique, each in unique ways, however I have minimal exposure to displays of effective culture competence being utilized in a medical setting. This semester my IPPE experience was at a CVS pharmacy located in South Philadelphia. During my first few weeks at this site I realized that most of the patients, along with the employees of the pharmacy all seemed to come from a similar cultural backgrounds. Most of the patients were middle aged, to older, …show more content…
This pharmacy was owned by two and have varying abilities to communicate using the English language. Even before the acquisition our store was rather busy and usually would only have one pharmacist and one technician working at any given time. The addition a significant number patients who often present with barriers to communication, has been a significant stressor for both the pharmacist and the technicians. I noticed the technicians become easily frustrated when dealing with new patients because of language barriers. I can understand their frustrations because at times, it seems as if there just is not time to deal with patients who require extra
Cultural competence is continuum, in the sense that there is always room for self-assessment, improvement and reflection. The first time that I was exposed to the concept of cultural competence in a formal setting was this semester in pharmacy practice. I have always valued learning about different cultures. As a theology minor during my undergraduate years I took a reader course entitled ‘The Catholic Church and American Culture’ in which I learned about the various ways the Catholic church has shaped American culture and vice versa. In addition as a requirement for my ‘Religions of he World’ I was spend ten hours observing, and interacting with those of the Hindu culture. These experiences were valuable and unique, each in unique ways, however I have minimal exposure to displays of effective culture competence being utilized in a medical setting. This semester my IPPE experience was at a CVS pharmacy located in South Philadelphia. During my first few weeks at this site I realized that most of the patients, along with the employees of the pharmacy all seemed to come from a similar cultural backgrounds. Most of the patients were middle aged, to older, …show more content…
This pharmacy was owned by two and have varying abilities to communicate using the English language. Even before the acquisition our store was rather busy and usually would only have one pharmacist and one technician working at any given time. The addition a significant number patients who often present with barriers to communication, has been a significant stressor for both the pharmacist and the technicians. I noticed the technicians become easily frustrated when dealing with new patients because of language barriers. I can understand their frustrations because at times, it seems as if there just is not time to deal with patients who require extra