How Similar or Different Is the Eastern Notion of Balance

Use this proforma to organise your response to the reflective assessment task. Use the steps as headings and write in paragraphs below the headings; this is not an essay task. All your sources should be referenced using APA style. Step 1: Carefully choose one question from the Reflective Learning and Writing section of eModule 1 or 2 to guide your reflection. Write the question here: 2. 5 How similar or different is the Eastern notion of balance in the human body to the Western medical science beliefs about the nature of the human body?

Step 2: Reflect upon and analyse your experiences in relation to the topic of the question from Step 1, using the factors from Willis’ (2004, as cited in Germov, 2009, p. 6) sociological imagination template: •Historical factors •Cultural factors •Structural factors •Critical factors These experiences may be personal or professional. Be sure to specifically identify and discuss at least two of Willis’ factors in your analysis and make them relevant to your experiences. (400 words; use one academic source – your textbook Second Opinion)

During my work in a Rehab-Medical ward, there was a woman of strict Indian heritage receiving treatment. I felt overwhelmed regarding the cultural difference between us. I was aware I should understand her cultural views but I wasn’t sure what they were. I was hesitant I may accidently say or do something that could offend her. The head nurse explained that this patient had taken a fall and was on frequent pain relief. She communicated that this patient’s Indian husband, had been arguing with his wife during visits.

When the nurse expressed that the patient had confided in her, I was surprised as my original view of the patient’s culture may be that she wouldn’t feel comfortable discussing personal concerns with others. She expressed guilt for her husband providing for her family, unlike when she was healthy. She stated that her husband had been expressing displeasure at her treatment due to expectations to interact socially within their cultural community, and daily prayer rituals – which he felt she was unable to perform at the hospital. He believed that prayer and being in their home environment would restore her.

The patient expressed that her husband was pressuring her to sign a treatment waiver so that she could leave. Three days later, as suspected, she signed this form, allowing her to leave the hospital without any further treatment against the advise of a Doctor. Willis (as cited in Germov, 2009) suggests that the second factor of the sociological imagination template: cultural factors provide insight into how culture impacts/influences our lives. In this instance, this patient’s hospital stay stopped her from performing her cultural routine such as prayer and providing for her family.

Therefore, denying any further treatment in order to adhere to cultural standards. I became aware of her cultural views of healing. The view of body balance by being in her home environment rather than a hospital, an eastern notion, may have influenced her choices regarding westernised medicine and her view of treatment. Willis (as cited in Germov, 2009) suggests that structural factors; how social organisation affects our lives, can influence choices. Our patient voiced guilt for not meeting social responsibilities.

I therefore felt that the social structure within this patient’s relationships with family and community influenced her decision to withhold further treatment in order to avoid being isolated by her social institution during her stay in hospital. Step 3: Next, identify and cite one of the readings, articles or videos from the eModule and discuss how this resource helps you to expand and deepen your original reflections on this topic. Remember to relate the information from this resource back to the factors from the sociological imagination template. 400 words; use two academic sources – one from your textbook + one from the eModule) The reading.

This reading allowed me to reflect on the choices our patient made in order to heal and align her balance in her own environment. It has given me the opportunity to understand and respect why she made those choices, even though at the time I disagreed with her decision. Historical factors from the sociological imagination template helped analyse ancient influences of traditional Indian medicine, and how they’ve brought about the views of our patient and her vision of health.

Due to my new understanding of these different cultural and structural views within different people, it has allowed me to perceive possible amendments into our hospital system. In hindsight, I feel as though we could have discussed other options with our patient and her husband to how to treat, whilst respecting their culture. I am under the impression they came to the hospital to receive westernised treatment, however I do believe that this family would have been a good candidate for a home visits.

To have medication administered and a physiotherapist assist with exercises within the home, where the patient felt balanced and comfortable, may have allowed for both treatments to complement each other. Flaskerud (as cited by Germov 2009, p. 186) defines cultural competence as “a set of congruent behaviours, attitudes, policies, and structures that come together in a system or agency among professionals and enables the system, agency, or professionals to work effectively in cross-cultural situations.

My view of our interaction with the patient during her stay in hospital was one of open-ness towards her cultural views and beliefs and that the people involved with her care were being culturally competent. I do believe that there could have been a better understanding of how to offer westernised standard of care, in accordance to her cultural choices, and furthermore, I will be aware to acknowledge other options and offer a more suitable option to the patients needs. Step 4:

Now, building upon your reflections in the previous steps, answer the original question you identified in Step 1, using at least four academic sources (e. g. journal articles, research reports) to support your answer. Locate these academic sources through your own information search. (600 words; use at least 4 new academic/literature sources) (Holenberg, 2009) explains that although a majority of today’s health care is biomedical and westernised, many non-biomedical and alternative (eastern) therapies are booming alongside them with attempts to integrate diverse methods into ‘integrated’ medicine and health care.

I view this point as one of structure, I am starting to doubt whether western and eastern medicine as similar as I originally thought. They seem more to compliment each other than share similarities. As my views of Eastern and Western notions of health were limited, Ka-Kit (as cited in David, 2006) helped me to understand that “In western medicine, we use the reductionist approach to try and locate where the organs, cells, and molecules are in trouble. In general, other approaches [eastern] look at the whole system; it’s more holistic.

It’s more hands-on, more qualitative, and it focuses more on body, mind and spirit. ” My interpretation of Ka-Kit’s (as cited in David, 2006) concept is that western medicine looks at the basis of the human form itself (nature of the human body), whereas other approaches such as the eastern notion look at the whole body (balance of mind, body and spirit). I read further and found that “The two systems are complementary. The Chinese [eastern] approach looks at the macro aspect, and Western medicine looks at the details” (Ka-Kit, as cited in David, 2006).

Stepping back into my situation with my Indian patient at the hospital, I would now try to look at the patient’s social and natural environments and then her lifestyle to see how I could improve her situation or condition (Ka-Kit, as cited in David, 2006). I need to alternate my approach to different views on health and respecting their responsibility to their lives, societies and their choices as human beings. After reading (Beinfield & Korngold, 1998), I was surprised to learn that the vocabularies between Eastern and Western medicine differ by millions of years.

In Western Medicine, words such as “liver” or “kidney” as anatomical structures, have different meaning in the Eastern notion, where they are named “networks”. They’re considered physiological and psychological areas within the mind body spirit structure. I was excited with finding this discovery; I was starting to feel a connection of understanding with both these notions of health. Having considered these differences, I was surprised that “in the western view, phenomena must be observable or measureable to be considered real or acceptable. ” (Sheikh & Sheikh, as cited in Lawson-Presswalla, 1994).

I had come to believe these two were complementary and working together, maybe the biomedical model was more critical of what wasn’t considered factual or conventional? This throwback allowed me to dig even deeper, it opened a realm of ‘what were the foundations of these types of medicine and rather than simple differences and possibly complementing each other, what is it that REALLY makes them similar/different’. With this information, my view that though one medicine focuses on physical entirety, and the other, mind, body, spirit, I see the physical body can in fact alter the health of the mind, body, spirit and visa versa.

So what’s the key thing that I’m missing, that separates them but also unites them? (Coward & Scott, as cited in Lupton, 2003 p. 138) makes it clear to me the information I’ve been missing. She argues that whilst critics maintain that the quest for ‘entire health’, which encompasses all aspects of a human life (more than just the absence of illness) that eastern therapies adds to the medicalization of the western culture, and this allows dominance over the patient’s autonomy.

She further expresses that eastern therapies seek to change the image of the body and illness by moving away from the strict view of anatomical mechanisms, and more towards ‘energy’, which depicts the body as ‘natural’ with efficiency to be ‘in-tune’ with its environment and therefore, create a ‘functional’ meaning of health. Step 5: Finally, choose one of the Graduate Attributes (at the front of the Unit Outline) that is most relevant and explain how answering this eModule question has helped you to develop this Graduate Attribute.

This question has allowed me to research the medical needs of diverse people and cultures, therefore understanding Graduate Attribute 1. I feel as though each medical choice is on par; no “right” or “wrong”. I believe that each person, no matter whom, have a choice towards treatment and that choice should be respected, and treated with dignity. People have many views; will we ever join together with a same view on medicine? A different choice of treatment does not brand anyone better or worse. These different opinions are what allow ourselves, other societies and cultures to grow in knowledge everyday.