This quiz offers healthcare professionals an opportunity to self-assess their preparedness for communicating with patients and families who come from different cultural backgrounds. The purpose of this quiz is to stimulate your thinking about cultural competence and help you to reflect on your experience, knowledge, and attitudes regarding culturally diverse populations.
True
False
True
False
True
False
True
False
Asking questions that require the patient to give a simple “yes” or “no” answer, such as “Do you have trouble breathing?” or “Does your knee hurt?”
Encouraging the patient to give a description of her/his medical situation, and beliefs about health and illness.
Asking the patient whether he or she would like to have a qualified interpreter for the medical visit.
Asking the patient questions such as “How has your condition changed over the past two days?” or “What makes your condition get better or worse?”
Asking questions about what the patient believes about her or his illness - what caused the illness, how severe it is, and what type of treatment is needed.
Gently explaining which beliefs about the illness are not correct.
Explain the “Western” or “American” beliefs about the patient’s illness.
Discussing differences in beliefs without being judgmental.
Involving family members.
Repeating the instructions very loudly and several times to emphasize the importance of the treatment.
Agreeing to a compromise in the timing or amount of treatment.
Spending time listening to discussions of folk or alternative remedies.
True
False
Making eye contact with the interpreter when you are speaking, then looking at the patient while the interpreter is telling the patient what you said.
Speaking slowly, pausing between words.
Asking the interpreter to further explain the patient’s statement in order to get a more complete picture of the patient’s condition.
None of the above.
True
False
People who speak the same language have the same culture.
The people living on the African continent share the main features of African culture.
Cultural background, diet, religious, and health practices, as well as language, can differ widely within a given country or part of a nation.
An alert provider can usually predict a patient’s health behaviors by knowing what country s/he comes from.
Friendly (non-sexual) physical contact is an important part of communication for many Latin American people.
Many Asian people think it is disrespectful to ask questions of a health provider.
Most African people are either Christian or follow a traditional religion.
Eastern Europeans are highly diverse in terms of customs, language and religion.
The incidence of complications of diabetes, including lower-limb amputations and end-stage renal disease, among the African-American population, is double that of European Americans.
Japanese men who migrate to the US retain their low susceptibility to coronary heart disease.
Hispanic women have a lower incidence of breast cancer than the majority population.
Some Native Americans/American Indians and Pacific Islanders have the highest rate of type II diabetes mellitus in the world.
True
False
True
False
True
False
The provider should recognize that a smile may express unhappiness or dissatisfaction in some cultures.
To express sympathy, a health care provider can lightly touch a patient’s arm or pat the patient on the back.
If a patient will not make eye contact with a health care provider, it is likely that the patient is hiding the truth.
When there is a language barrier, the provider can use hand gestures to bridge the gap.
True
False
True
False
True
False
The organization employs or has access to professional interpreters that speak all or at least most of the languages of its clients.
The organization posts signs in different languages and has patient education materials in different languages.
The organization tries to hire staff that mirror the ethnic and cultural mix of its clients.
The organization assumes that professional medical staff does not need to be reminded to treat all patients with respect.
She doesn't want to spread germs.
Muslim women are taught to be submissive.
Modesty is very important in Islamic tradition.
She doesn’t like the provider.
Diet is an important part of both Islam and Hinduism.
North African countries have health care systems that suffer because of political problems.
Arab people have not historically had an impact on the medical field.
Wait!
Here's an interesting quiz for you.