Culture & Clinical Care

The people of the world can be seen as a tapestry woven of many different strands. Those strands differ in size, shape, color, intensity, age, and place of origin. All strands are integral to the whole yet each retains an individuality that enriches the beauty of the earth. Health care providers cannot provide good care without assessing both cultural group patterns and individual variation within a cultural group. Providing appropriate, cross-cultural health care is impossible without partnerships based on trusting, respectful, and responsible relationships between health care providers and patients, their families, and communities.