ASIAN CULTURE AND PATIENT INFORMATION SHARING 1

Asian Culture and Patient Information Sharing

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Institution

Course

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ASIAN CULTURE AND PATIENT INFORMATION SHARING 2

Asian Culture and Patient Information Sharing

Healthcare providers are responsible for sharing full information with a patient to

facilitate management of a healthcare issue or enable a patient to make decisions. Asians

have a cultural preference for not being told of their prognosis. Purnell and Fenkl (2020)

noted that cultural diversity changes how healthcare providers approach health issues as they

are required to demonstrate cultural sensitivity when dealing with people of different

cultures. Such sensitivity requires that healthcare providers adhere to the specific cultural

aspects of a population or an individual to meet their healthcare needs. While they are

committed to providing culturally sensitive care, healthcare providers must adhere to the

professional code of ethics and be guided by bioethical principles to do what is right. The

code of ethics outlines how healthcare providers should engage with their patients to meet

their needs.

For Asians whose culture tends to allow the provider to share information on

prognosis, I believe that at this point, a provider must weigh the benefits and costs associated

with sharing such information. Rosenberg et al. (2017) noted that sometimes it is ethically

allowed for a provider to differ from family or cultural values regarding nondisclosure to

facilitate effective and required healthcare delivery. Therefore, if providing the prognosis to

the patient may help improve the management of a health issue, then, in this case, the

provider should not respect cultural practices as it may not benefit the patient and may lead to

more harm which is against the principles of beneficence and nonmaleficence. A patient has a

right to information, and the provider should ensure that patients have access to all

fundamental information that would enable them to manage their health and improve self-

care. Therefore, withholding information is an unethical practice.

ASIAN CULTURE AND PATIENT INFORMATION SHARING 3

References

Purnell, L. D., & Fenkl, E. A. (Eds.). (2020). Textbook for transcultural health care: A

population approach: Cultural competence concepts in nursing care. Springer

Nature.

Rosenberg, A. R., Starks, H., Unguru, Y., Feudtner, C., & Diekema, D. (2017). Truth Telling

in the Setting of Cultural Differences and Incurable Pediatric Illness: A Review.

JAMA pediatrics, 171(11), 1113–1119.

https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2017.2568