Bridging the Communication Gap in Health Care

This book discusses how hierarchical and collectivist cultures contribute to the challenges and opportunities in communication in health care. Failures in communication may result in threats to patient safety. The work is structured around the Hofstede theoretical framework, focusing on two of the six domains of culture, namely hierarchy and collectivism. To date, guidelines on communication practices in health care have been primarily based on Western evidence and thus do not satisfy the needs of other cultural contexts. Existing studies have shown that strong hierarchical and collectivist cultures, transnationally, have different communication practices, with shared characteristics between several countries in Asia, Africa, and South America. Furthermore, when people migrate, they bring their communication styles — which reflect their cultural characteristics — to their new host environment. When not well managed, these differences can yield problematic communication gaps affecting patient care. Building on their extensive work focused on healthcare communication in Southeast Asian cultures, the authors propose remedial approaches and discuss future initiatives for practicing doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and other healthcare practitioners who encounter the daily struggle of cultural miscommunication in their clinical practices. They also address the ways in which patients experience hesitancy when communicating with healthcare providers, owing to cultural barriers. The book proposes how healthcare providers might tackle these communication challenges. It is relevant to educators and researchers in medical and health professions education and public health, and for all patients' advocates, who are looking to enhance their communication skills to improve patient care and safety.