Good Clinical Practice Around the World

¶ … Clinical Practice

The general topic to be covered in this brief response is good clinical practice (GCP). Specifically, there will be a focus on how clinical practice can be the same when it comes to comparing country to country or culture to culture. There should also be a focus on how different cultures and countries can be different. There can even be variances and outliers within a singular culture rather than the disparities being between only different systems altogether. The author of this report will answer to whether good clinical practice is equally rigorous and advanced in all countries or whether there are variances from area to area as one travels around the world. Further, the author will explain why or why not that rigor exists. Examples will be provided to justify the answers given. While the rigor applies to good clinical practice does indeed vary from area to area, culture and resources have a lot to do with that being the case.

Analysis

As indicated in the introduction, there is indeed a variance from country to country and culture to culture when it comes to good clinical practice. These variances can indeed occur within a single culture. One example came about in United Kingdom when there was concerns from Muslims about handwashing and how not wearing sleeves was deemed to be lacking modesty. Critics of this assertion countered that sleeves in a medical setting are basically germ magnets and that allowing sleeves for any reason (religious/cultural or not) was just dangerous for patients. However, a middle ground was struck in the form of allowing the Muslim women in question to use disposable sleeves so that they could maintain their modesty while at the same time keeping things as sanitary as possible for patients (Smith, 2015). However, when looking at comparisons between countries or, better yet, regions of the world, the differences become starker. In many countries of the Middle East and Southeast Asia, Muslims are a dominant part (or THE dominant part) of the population and this leads to an overall shift in the general standards. This is not to say that they are "wrong" and that Western standards are "right," but it is generally accepted that one way is better than the other by most people. Indeed, many Muslims will attempt to be flexible but they will generally not do something that conflicts with their beliefs even if the patient is not Muslim (Nayer, 2008) What varies is which is best and why. Some people it should come down to evidence-based practice and science whereas others focus on culture and religion as a guide. Even when science/evidence is the only factor, opinions can differ. However, cases like Terri Schiavo and others prove that there can quite often be cultural and religious conflicts that butt heads with good clinical practice (Fine, 2015). In terms of what the author of this report thinks, good clinical practice all comes down to one's perspective, ethics and standards. Optimally, a healthcare provider will use the generally accepted standards for the medical community in which they inhabit. For example, a nurse may feel that removing Schiavo's feeding tube was wrong but the general medical sense was that she was never going to recover and that not pulling the feeding tube was tantamount to torture.