Hi Guys,
Im at Burns ward and treating quite a few aboriginal patients.
In the country, people tend to light bonfires in winters and end up getting burns, especially if they are intoxicated.
I treated 2 aboriginal men. This was the first time I was treating aboriginal men and found great differences in the way they behaved around young females (my supervisor and me).The first one was young in his early twenties and the second one was in his late fifties.
The older man tended to avoid eye contact and to look away whenever I tried to politely ask him questions or explain the exercises that I wanted him to do. The strategies that I had to use was to stand at some distance, looking away from him and talk so I don't have eye contact with him. I even talked at his back in one session. This made him more comfortable. I also had to limit my explanations to very simple words and also just using diagrams for the patient to understand (as the patient's reading and writing in English was understandably not great). The patient spoke an Aboriginal dialect which was very different to the other Aboriginal patient that I had to treat.
Rapport with the younger aboriginal male patient was easier as he played football and went for Eagles (even if I go for dockers). But his writing and reading in English were understandably not great either because he belonged to a community where they spoke only an Aboriginal dialect. So I had to use very similar strategies as I had to for the older male. I had to be simple in explanations (using gestures) and write diagrams while explaining. He also felt more comfortable as I maintained distance, as I had to for the older man.
I also learnt the various ways of referring a patient to a nearby hospital when they are discharged. The patients live in communities close to the towns. Usually they are a few hundred kilometers away. So the physiotherapist at the town needed to be informed about the exact location regarding this. So direct communication by phone calls was essential with the physiotherapist who would need to travel a few hundred kilometers to reach the community.
Rapport with these patients was also easy when I talked about camping, fishing and dancing - as these are the regular activities that they enjoy.
Building rapport is essential while treating the Aboriginal patients. They also feel very isolated coming to Perth - which is a huge place to them. Approaching them as a friend can help them very comfortable and show them that the therapist cares.
On the whole, this was a great learning experience.
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2 comments:
Hi Sashi,
I was fortunate enough to attend Country Week in the Murchison region earlier this year and was placed in the Aboriginal Focus Group for the week (along with 6 other students). We spent the week interacting with local aboriginal people in Cue and Meekatharra. At the beginning of the week we were quite hesitant about speaking with the Aboriginal community and were really aware of remaining ‘culturally appropriate’ ie. avoiding eye contact etc. However, as the week progressed we began to relax a lot more and realise we had perhaps been overly cautious and overly culturally sensitive. Once us students all relaxed, it was easier to develop a rapport with the Aboriginal community. One aboriginal elder said to us “We’re all the same on the inside. Treat everyone the same.” This was quite suprising to a lot of us because at uni it seems like we are told we have to be ‘culturally sensitive’ with all aboriginal people, but in the real world you can’t treat all aboriginal people the same way. Some people from remote communities will respond better to culturally sensitive approaches (lack of eye contract etc) whilst others will stare you in the eye!! I second your opinion, working with aboriginal people is a great learning experience.
Ez
Hi Sashi,
I have been working with an Aboriginal patient too and have learnt a lot about different aspects of Aboriginal culture from her. As soon as I showed an interest in her ways, she became very open in telling me her beliefs and even told me a bit about her experiences as part of the Stolen Generation. She always wears a healing stone, which has been in her family for over 200 years, attached to the inside of her shirt and when on weekend leave is treated by her medicine man. She really likes to have the windows open in the gym and hates the feeling of being “caged in”. I have found her to be one of the most motivated patients I have ever treated. I think when dealing with members of any culture, we must just that everyone, including people from the same culture, is different and we must treat them with respect.
Mel
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