Vietnamese and Healthcare Systems
Vietnamese is a culture mostly focused in the country of Vietnam but a subculture that is spreading across the globe. Here in America we have a population of about 1,548,449 Vietnamese Americans (US Census Bureau 2010). The purpose of this paper is to examine Vietnamese culture and how they interact with the health care system in America today. This paper will describe three aspects of the Vietnamese culture, including: history, religion and dietary and food habits. The health practices and beliefs of the Vietnamese culture will be presented in this paper. Common stereotypes of the Vietnamese people will be discussed. Also the Medical surgical floor where the writer works will be examined, and how accessible it is for people of the Vietnamese culture. In …show more content…
Traditional practitioners include spiritual healers, physicians who employ herbal medication and acupuncture, informal folk healers who use natural and pragmatic approaches such as special herbs and diets, and magicians or sorcerers (Nowak, 1998). In the United States, Vietnamese may use a combination of traditional and Western health care practices.
Vietnamese Stereotype There are two major stereotypes of the Vietnamese people especially in our country today. The first one is that all people of Asian descent are extremely smart. Asians are typically viewed as smarter than all of their peers and must get good grades to please their families (Bankston 2010). Another major stereotype of the Vietnamese is America is that they all work in or own nail salons. While it is true that there are many nail salons owned by Vietnamese Americans they do also work in other industry’s including many being doctors and lawyers (Quach et al. 2008).
Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center Med-Surg