Peer Insights | Cultural Humility Case Studies and Practical Applications
What are some cultural humility examples? PEN’s Aicha Diallo discusses the concept of cultural humility and provides real-world scenarios of healthcare provider reactions to perceptions about patients versus exercising cultural humility.
Related Resources:
Peer Insights | Appreciating Patient Diversity and Respecting Cultural Differences |
Peer Insights | Recognizing Implicit Bias and Respecting Patients’ Choices |
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Transcript:
Dr. Nicole Rochester:
What do real-world scenarios teach us about cultural humility? I have the pleasure of connecting with Aïcha Diallo, Vice President of Programs at Patient Empowerment Network to really dive into this topic. Aïcha, could you share some real-life scenarios or challenges where cultural humility comes into play in healthcare settings?
Aïcha Diallo:
First, I think it’s important to get a better understanding of what cultural humility is. As a healthcare professional, practicing cultural humility is taking a step back to say, I have a patient in front of me, or I’m interacting with a patient, and I don’t know who they are. So I’m going to take a step back. I won’t make any assumptions. I’m going to listen to them. I’m going to let them share with me who they are, where they’re from, what their needs are, and what’s going on in order to meet them exactly where they are and to understand who is sitting in front of you and be able to then engage in shared decision-making and coming up with the best treatment option for them. So really, taking the time to see the unique elements of your patients instead of automatically characterizing them can also demonstrate respect and can help healthcare professionals give their patients the care that they need and want.
For instance, a physician is seeing a patient and to him the patient looks Latina. The patient has an accent, and the doctor assumes that she doesn’t speak English and automatically requests medical translation services for her in Spanish. Come to find out that the patient is fluent in English, is not Latina, but is from North Africa. So in this scenario, if the physician had taken the time to really listen to their patient and ask more questions and not make any assumptions, it would have really helped them identify their patient’s needs during their diagnosis.
Another scenario that I have that we should always try to avoid is, for instance, a patient of color comes to their doctor’s appointment, and the doctor assumes that they live in a lower income neighborhood and may not have a high level of education. And with that, assumes and chooses not to share any information about clinical trials with them because they believe that they may not be able to access those resources.
So one of the things that I would encourage that we do is to work really hard to remove any biases that we have and to really continuously practice cultural humility with your patients and their families and really remember that we can all be on the same page even though we have different stories.
Dr. Nicole Rochester:
Thank you, Aïcha, for explaining what cultural humility is and for sharing those life scenarios. Can you talk about what these actions look like in reality, how can providers truly apply cultural humility in their daily practice?
Aïcha Diallo:
I think it’s important to identify any personal biases that you may have, reflect on your own identity, remember to treat your patients with respect, dignity, and empathy, and listen to them more, hear them out, find out who they are, what their needs are, what their goals are. Have conversations with them, it’s important to hear them share where they’re coming from and where they’re headed, and this will really help in terms of coming up with the best treatment option for them. I think it’s also important to participate in courses to educate oneself on the different aspects of cultural humility, and how do you integrate that within your daily practices.
I think it’s important to not confuse cultural competency with cultural humility and really understand that you cannot be an expert at somebody else’s culture, that you have to take a step back and be humble and really listen to them and let them tell you and share with you who they are and what really matters to them. I think it’s also important to avoid making any assumptions as you could entirely be wrong, unless the person shares with you exactly what is important to them and who they truly are. And don’t forget to show some interest in what your patients are saying. And remember to recognize and really celebrate the uniqueness of their backgrounds, of their trade, and really do see them as people. I think that’s very important.
Dr. Nicole Rochester:
Aïcha, thank you so much for, again, sharing your wisdom. You’ve taught us a lot about what cultural humility is, the difference between cultural humility and cultural competence, and some real-life scenarios that we can all take away and some tactics for truly applying cultural humility in our practice. Thank you so much.
Aïcha Diallo:
Thank you for having me.
