The Importance of Understanding Military Culture

This is an excerpt from the content It is much more important to know what sort of a patient has a disease than what sort of disease a patient has. —Sir William Osler Modern providers are expected to be “culturally competent,” providing effective care to patients of cultures different than their own. Cultural competence impacts every facet of illness and care because culture helps define not only the patient but the provider as well—making cultural competence a cornerstone of health care. Cultural competence is an accreditation requirement for all US medical schools, graduate medical education programs, and hospitals. The recently updatedDiagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) underscores the importance of cultural competence by noting potential cultural influences for each disorder and including a comprehensive cultural formulation. Despite such a widely held belief that culture is critical in health care, there is one culture that is often overlooked—the military. According to a 2012 survey by the Am ...