Check Your Cultural Biases

A key aspect of self-awareness is recognizing how our own particular cultural heritage, values, belief systems affect how we respond to our patients and colleagues and how they, in turn, respond to us.

For example, misunderstandings stemming from language barriers can increase a patient's anxiety to a point where physical attacks on caregivers are the only way to communicate one's pain, acute emotional distress, and the need to be understood (Hoff & Morgan, 2011).