Womens Health 1 Cultural differences

I am currently completing my women’s health placement, focusing largely on inpatient obstetrics, so… post-natal, mostly. My newfound… “insight” this week pertains to the conversations that go on during the lunch breaks in the staff room. The sorts of informal conversations, as per usual, revolve around patients’ cases, situations, social circumstances, decisions etc. Some of the comments that had been flying around made me stop and think for a bit.

One physio was explaining the case: “She had a vaginal delivery, one Caesar, 3… 4… maybe 5 more vaginal deliveries, then this recent one was a Caesar”. In case you’re lost, that means she has 8 kids. At which point most people in the room gasped (which I’m sure you all are too, and which is not too surprising). But then the myriad of comments flying around were along the lines of “You’d think she’d learn after the first 2!” This reaction made me stop, because I found it a little… judgmental? I’m sure they were meant in light humour, and I personally wasn’t that offended but I realised that this reaction wouldn’t be a common one if the conversation was amongst my family, or in my country. I am the oldest of 5 girls, and we actually have one of the smallest families in my extended family. My mother is one of 9. I guess my point is we see nothing “wrong” with large families, and this is largely a culturally different attitude.

Another example from this week revolved around a young patient, a 17 yr old woman who had just given birth to a baby girl, and who she had decided to give up for adoption. The conversation between one staff member and I was regarding this choice. One comment was “Wouldn’t it be easier at that age to just end the pregnancy? Especially if she was going to give it away anyway. Surely that’s the easiest thing.” This one made me stop again… I replied “maybe she’s catholic”, and felt this was dismissed as a “silly” reason. Other than that, I think it pays to remember how hard this situation is for a 17 yr old, who not only has to face the social stigma of an unwanted pregnancy, who may find it hard to tell people, before having to make the decision of what to do with it…. I found that comment unnecessarily judgmental.

Those examples made me reflect on the differences in values present in such a place as a physiotherapy staff room. This is no doubt more likely to surface in a hospital caring for patients with a range of highly sensitive cultural and personal issues. But they made me ponder on the power of how comments we make, driven by our cultural and personal values, have the potential to offend people who hold different values to our own. They risk appearing judgemental, insensitive and… arrogantly western, quite frankly. Of course, this can happen anywhere but I guess I was surprised that I saw it happen so readily in a professional environment. These reflections made me more aware of the importance of my showing respect for others’ cultural differences in professional settings.