What is Cultural Competency?
According to Donald Joralemon, cultural competency is "often best understood by negative example, that is , by seeing what happens when culture is not sufficiently factored into the relationship between doctors and their patients" (Joralemon 2010:96). He feels that cultural competency has become central to the role medical anthropologists play in domestic health care and treatment outcomes (Joralemon 2010:96).
The perfect example? Lia Lee's story. Joralemon refers to her story as "the standard reference in anthropology and biomedicine alike" (Joralemon 2010:96).
Lia Lee's story showed how critical medical anthropology let her and her family down by not helping bring adequate assistance to her or other Hmong families. It also showed that applied medical anthropology failed to help bridge the communication gap between the Hmong and the American healthcare system.
According to Donald Joralemon, cultural competency is "often best understood by negative example, that is , by seeing what happens when culture is not sufficiently factored into the relationship between doctors and their patients" (Joralemon 2010:96). He feels that cultural competency has become central to the role medical anthropologists play in domestic health care and treatment outcomes (Joralemon 2010:96).
The perfect example? Lia Lee's story. Joralemon refers to her story as "the standard reference in anthropology and biomedicine alike" (Joralemon 2010:96).
Lia Lee's story showed how critical medical anthropology let her and her family down by not helping bring adequate assistance to her or other Hmong families. It also showed that applied medical anthropology failed to help bridge the communication gap between the Hmong and the American healthcare system.