3. Describe the traditional definitions of health and illness of the Essay

3. Describe the traditional definitions of health and illness of the White populations - Essay Example This often tends to put the patients in need of immediate medical assistance, at a higher health risk. Furthermore, even though affordable health care providers are indeed located and identified, seeking self-referral for acute illnesses is another major problem. Most of the practitioners do not attend to patients on a self-referral in terms of securing an appointment with them, but instead are required to get one from ones family physician or alternatively seek initial assistance from some other general practitioner till a referral is received. This leads to wastage of time as well as money, which is both highly unacceptable setbacks in case of emergency medical care. The above mentioned hassles may not be bothersome to the economically well off individuals, however in case of an average citizen or a commoner, such setbacks play a huge role in influencing their decision and restricting their access to cheaper, better and effective health care. It has been observed on various occasions that assessing the exact type of illness suffered can be tricky. The situation is much worse in case of an ordinary citizen who has very little or absolutely no knowledge regarding medicine or health care. In such a situation, comprehending the actions of the physicians or nurses, or the tests carried out on them, especially during complex physical examinations becomes all the more difficult. Most of the time the patients have no knowledge or information regarding the tests carried out on them, their significance, or outcome, and even if they ask for a detailed explanation, they are often provided with an answer which includes complex medical jargon, which is practically incomprehensible to the ordinary individual. This may put the patients under tremendous pressure, and lead to awkwardness and unease among them. The health care practitioners must be trained to deal with such situations and communicate with them in a better and comprehensibl e manner, in order to save them