4 Lessons From Caring for Patients of Different Cultural Backgrounds
Caring for patients across cultures calls for clear habits, not guesswork. This article shares practical steps informed by frontline clinicians and cultural care experts. Learn how to invite questions with visuals, respect support traditions, use plain language, and protect dignity by offering choice and control.
Invite Questions and Use Visual Aids
A situation that stands out involved a patient who traveled from another country to undergo a reconstructive procedure with our team. Their cultural background placed significant emphasis on being respectful and not questioning medical professionals openly. During the consultation, the patient agreed to everything we discussed, but their body language suggested hesitation. We realized that although they trusted our expertise, they didn't feel comfortable voicing concerns or asking for clarification. This could easily affect their preparation, expectations, and recovery.
To adapt our communication and approach, we:
Shifted to a slower, more conversational pace that encouraged pauses for questions
Introduced detailed illustrations and healing timelines to explain each stage clearly
Invited the patient to share any personal or cultural considerations before finalizing the plan
Encouraged them to bring a trusted family member to follow-up discussions, which made them more comfortable
Used open-ended questions like "What would you like us to explain more?" instead of "Do you understand?"
Reconfirmed each step of the plan in simple terms instead of assuming verbal agreement meant full clarity
What we learned from this experience:
Cultural background heavily influences how patients participate in their care, and silence does not always mean understanding
Creating space for questions requires adjusting both our tone and our pacing
Visual communication helps bridge gaps when patients are hesitant to speak openly
Including family members, when appropriate, can improve comfort and clarity
Adapting our approach strengthens trust and leads to smoother recovery and higher satisfaction
This situation reminded us that high-quality care in Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery is not only about technical expertise—it also requires cultural awareness, flexibility, and communication that truly meets patients where they are.
Honor Individual Support Traditions in Treatment
I worked with an adolescent patient whose family deeply valued self-reliance and independence. I initially wanted to bring the family more closely into the treatment process, but the parents gently explained that their way of supporting their son was by trusting and empowering his independence. This experience challenged my own cultural assumptions about what family support should look like in treatment. I learned that effective care requires understanding and respecting each family's unique values rather than applying a one-size-fits-all approach.
Favor Plain Words and Clear Analogies
I have worked with patients from Haiti, China, Russia, and other backgrounds, and the main thing I have learned is that simple language works everywhere. Medical training makes us very comfortable with technical terms, but most patients, especially when they are in a new country or speaking a second language, just want someone who explains things clearly. I use analogies when possible, comparing arteries to a hose, or the liver to a filter to help them understand. What I take from these experiences is that the real skill is not showing how much you know, but making sure the other person truly understands what's happening to their body in simple terms.
Julio Baute, MD
Clinical Content & Evidence-Based Medicine Consultant
invigormedical.com
Emphasize Control to Protect Personal Dignity
I worked with an immigrant family from Italy, their father was an elderly man, around 80 years old. The family was worried about him in their absence, so they decided to buy a medical sensor to track falls and monitor his health.
Despite the high risk of falls, he categorically refused to wear the sensor at all times. He was afraid of "caring," which he believed would diminish his dignity. For a man who was the head of his family and had demonstrated strength throughout his life, acknowledging his weakness was a source of shame.
We decided to completely change the focus of our communication: we stopped talking about the reliability of the system and started talking about absolute user control. We emphasized that automatic triggering is a backup right to assistance. The customer could define and limit the number of people who receive alerts and set an additional delay (for example, 30 seconds) before our monitoring center initiates a call, allowing them to cancel the false alarm.
Of course, you can't change a person's mind in one go, but with consistent communication and conversations about other users, we were eventually able to convince him. I remember spending a lot of time with the man's family and working together to develop a plan, but it was an interesting experience.
