Understanding the culture rather than just having a list of dos and don’ts is most important to work successfully in a global healthcare team.
If you are working in a different country or in a global healthcare team you will need to focus on the cultural differences, both those you can see and those you don’t see. This is the same across all industries and sectors, but healthcare has challenges all of its own. I’ve had a lot of questions from healthcare professionals recently and so here are some of my answers.
Understanding the culture will answer more than one question and keep answering questions over time.
In this article, I look at 5 different cultural topics and then 5 practical strategies for success working in a global healthcare team.
You want to be successful and enjoy your working life, so consider the following 5 topics to help with this.
1. Attitudes and Beliefs
Consider your own attitudes and then the attitudes of the people you are working with and the patients you are caring for. These differ globally in how they are viewed and how they are expressed.
Start with considering attitudes and beliefs about:
pain,
disease,
discomfort,
death,
authority of medical professionals,
care expectations,
and personal responsibility.
2. Leading or being part of a Global Healthcare Team
Whether you are managing a diverse team or working within a diverse team, you will encounter differences in behaviour and expectations. You want to have time to focus on the medicine and the patients not the challenges of intercultural communication and management. You want to encourage an active interchange of ideas and experience and not let culture prevent this.
3. Feedback
How is feedback given, viewed and received. Think about what you are observing in terms of:
level of positivity/negativity,
direct or indirect style,
formal or informal style
frequency – often or summary.
Encourage your team to ask questions and voice concerns without fear of hierarchy or judgment. In many cultures, staff may be accustomed to unquestioning deference to doctors; invite feedback explicitly to break down these barriers.
4. Decision Making
All medical facilities have a hierarchy. Some of the hierarchy is very visible and so very clear. Then there is the not so visible hierarchy which can be confusing. The hierarchy you encounter will impact:
who is involved in a process or a decision;
the amount of autonomy you have;
how much input is expected from you.
5. Empathy and Understanding
How do you show empathy, concern, understanding of patients across cultures.
How to dismantle biases, create an inclusive environment and keep the learning going as more people join, situation changes etc. Unconscious bias and how to guard against it.
Practical strategies
While you are decoding and learning about the culture or cultures, here are 5 areas with practical strategies to help.
Names
Get names right by checking, clarifying and keeping a note. It is better to ask about pronunciation than cause confusion or insult someone). Read our article, Names Globally – How to Respect Everyone’s Culture
Say your own name slowly. It is very familiar to you but not to others. Leave a gap between your title and your name, and also a gap between your names. Otherwise, the listener may here just one word rather than two or three.
Greetings
Ask a colleague for clarification on these two questions.
What is the usual greeting with colleagues, and does it differ with seniority?
What is the usual greeting with patients, and does it differ based on gender or age?
Language
When you are speaking try to use language which is very clear and concise and avoid slang, idiom and acronyms. Acronyms will be particularly confusing for patients. They are a massive part of medical life, so may slip in without you realising, so be aware. See our article Twelve innovative ways for native English speakers to be clearer
When you are speaking about parts of the body, you will need two lists of vocabulary – one for colleagues, and one for patients.
Some words will make a patient feel comfortable and some not.
Some words will be confusing while others will be completely clear.
How much of the information you pass to other colleagues should be written? And how much verbal? You need to have definite guidelines for this.
Volume and speed of speaking vary culturally, so it’s a good idea to match your speed of speaking to the culture you are now working in. In general speaking more slowly always helps.
Never stop asking and feel confident asking for repetition, rephrasing, spelling etc. You are an educated and experienced medical professional and clarifying language is part of doing a good job.
Non-medical Topics
Start to listen to what people are talking about and make a mental list. You need to know which topics are acceptable and which not.
Typical topics include sport, weather, TV, local events, world events if not political. These topics will work to improve your communication with patients and make and nurture relationships with colleagues.
Body language
Watch others and fit your body language to the culture you are working in now. In addition, don’t judge others by their body language, It may not have significance, just be a cultural difference.
Eye contact varies between cultures and signals different things.
Do you need to use eye contact more?
Do you need to make eye contact but then look away and back again?
If your culture likes eye contact and someone doesn’t make eye contact with you, don’t assume it has a negative cause. It may signify a cultural norm or shyness.
Conclusion
As a medical professional, working in another country has the potential to enrich your life and your medical skills. If you have a clear understanding of the culture you are working in, this will be more likely.
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