Reflection Numero 3: Exploring Culture

                My group chose to research the culture of Australia and specifically the Aboriginals from Australia.  We chose this culture because the aboriginals sounded interesting and I have never learned anything about them.  Something new about the culture that I learned is that a hug or a kiss on the cheek is the way to greet a friend.  I also learned that averting eye contact in conversation is considered a sign of respect among aboriginals.  This could be a very important skill to have should I sometime have to care for an aboriginal in the medical setting I may need to avert my eyes or not be offended if the patient isn't looking at me.  I want to learn more about the medical practices the ancient aboriginals used to stay healthy.  I think that would be really cool and useful.

XC Wordle

Here is my experiment with wordle.net.  I used words from my Cross Country and Track experience.  Wordle.net works by taking any text you put in to the program and makes an image from all the words.

CCC Unit Reflection Numero 2: An Intro to Our Blogs

            In class we took some Implicit Association Tests (IATs).  These tests are designed to measure your unconscious associations between categories.  I took the race and weight tests.  I found that I had a strong unconscious preference for both European Americans and thin people as opposed to African Americans and fat people.  I was a little bit surprising but it all depends on where you grew up and what you is familiar to you.  The point of the test is to point out the tendencies that you have on a subconscious basis.

            So far this unit we have used many new websites.  We used Google Drive and Blogger to create a website and post documents via Google Drive.  We also learned how to screenshot pictures and put them on our websites.  We also used wordle.com to make really cool word collages.

            I can use the new blogger account for my senior portfolio in Health Systems Orientation (HSO).  That will make things easy to post online for others to see and use.  I can also use Google Drive to post documents online and allow other classmates to work on them and edit them.  This will make group projects way easier.  I will also be able to take screenshots and save them for further use.

CCC Unit Reflection Numero 1: The Beginning of the Unit

            The purpose of the Culturally Competent Care (CCC) Unit is to realize the means by which we interact with others in a society.  It is also to notice our unconscious biases that come from media and other influences.  In addition, we needed to attach it to cultural awareness in a medical setting.

            Culture is the mannerisms that a person or society have or pick up throughout their life or time period.  Our class came up with several types of culture such as gender, life experiences, music, and literacy.  Culture covers many differences that appear throughout our society.  These differences are important to realize because of different customs that may arise from different cultures.

            Being culturally competent is important everywhere and it is no different in a medical setting.  Cultural awareness creates a comfortable environment amongst patients and coworkers.  A comfortable environment leads to better communication, respect, teamwork, and innovation.  With these benefits a hospital and workplace become more effective and pleasant to be associated within.

            Implicit Association is when you have an unconscious association between two topics such as certain races and adjectives such as good and bad.  The results of a test over topics like those may be shocking to people who think they don’t have biases.  What people are thinking subconsciously can amaze them.  The results were shocking to me when I took a test for Implicit Associations.