Imagine a child has medical condition that doctors want to treat medically while the child’s parents see it as special, and something that could be healed spiritually. Conflict of care is bound to happen with the differing thought processes and lack of information from both sides. The importance of cultural competency and cross-cultural communication in the healthcare field is often undermined. It’s crucial that healthcare providers and patients or caregivers of patients are on the same page. In The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, a young girl with epilepsy undergoes devastating effects because of cultural incompetence within healthcare. Her story is heartbreaking but shines light on the importance of resolving cultural misunderstanding.
Description of Book
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down is a story about a young Hmong girl named Lia Lee who has epilepsy. At three months old, Lia had her first seizure after her sister slammed the door. Lia’s parents, Foua and Nao Kao thought that the noise from the slammed door caused her soul to flee, explaining the seizure. Her parent’s cultural beliefs were that Lia’s seizures made her special. Epileptics in her culture
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Lia’s parents were not bad or incompetent parents; they were just doing what they felt best for their daughter according to their cultural beliefs. On the other hand, Lia’s healthcare providers were doing what they were taught which is to give the best possible medical treatment to their patients. The big take home message from this book for me was the importance of transcultural nursing. I thought back to times where I took care of patients of different cultures and how challenging I remember it being, but at the same time the family and patient must have found it just as difficult. This book was an eye opener and from reading it I will implement what I have learned to my nursing