Caring for Filipino Patients with Cancer Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Caring for Filipino Patients with Cancer - Essay Example The problem with the American health care practices lies behind the fact that most of the American physicians are practicing paternalistic decision-making and patient autonomy (Schmit, 2005). In line with this, most of the American physicians are not aware that the practice of too much paternalistic decision-making and patient autonomy can lead to Filipino cancer patients’ dissatisfaction with regards to the health care services they receive from the U.S.-based hospitals. The problem with the use of pure American health care system is that the American physicians may sometimes tend to forget about knowing how a Filipino cancer patient would prefer to discuss their treatment and care (Harle et al., 2007; Schmit, 2005). For example: It is possible that most of the Filipino cancer patients would prefer to have at least one of their family members to be present while discussing the patient’s health diagnosis including the recommended treatment or medication that can enable the cancer patient to alleviate pain. Since American physicians are trained to practice patient autonomy and confidentiality, most of Filipino cancer patients are not able to be with their family members at the time the physician would discuss about their diagnosis. By nature, Filipinos are not confrontational. For this reason, nurses should assure the patients that it is good to ask them questions whenever they have doubts about the care and treatment they are receiving from the hospital and health care professionals (Schmit, 2005). For example: In case a cancer patient is given a new medication, nurses should make the patient know that they have the right to know about the name of drug and purpose of the medication given to them by the nurses. In line with this, cancer patients or patients in general will always have the right to refuse to take the medication. Despite the cultural differences between the American nurses and Filipino cancer patients, nurses should always build a