The influence of different cultures on neurosurgical practice

It is popularly believed that advances in technology and the increasingly widespread availability of such technology will lead to a lessening of the influence of culture on the practice of medicine. However, this spread of technology is in fact having the opposite effect, since it is more likely that a given patient will receive treatment in a different cultural community than his or her own, possibly administered by care-givers from yet another culture. The cultural backgrounds of the patients, medical staff, disease, community and technology all play a part in influencing the treatment and its outcome. This paper attempts to highlight some of the cultural factors that most influence medical treatment and to suggest ways in which the negative effects of the impact of culture on medicine can be overcome.