I would start building my rapport with the mother by introducing myself, and asking the mother what her name is and what her child’s name is. I would ask what problems led to her to bring baby in to be seen. Since I determined that the baby is a new patient I would complete a health history and head to toe physical assessment. What nurses should be aware of when assessing the head, neck, nose, mouth, and throat of an infant are as follows: When assessing the head (skull) the nurses should be aware of any of the following: • abnormal skull shape • a large or small head • separations of the suture line or additional bones (London, Ladewig, Ball, & Bindler, 2006) • fontanelle bulging or swelling • any masses • any tenderness …show more content…
My personal experience with a special client was when a baby needed to have an IV place in head and this was a life or death situation. The Hmong family did not want to let the medical staff place an IV in the baby’s head because of their beliefs cultural belief that head sacred because the soul of the individual lives there and placing an IV could startle the soul out of the body. We had a Hmong interpreter but she was not getting anywhere with the family. I observed the family and noticed that two of the teenagers (ages 16 and 17) spoke English, I asked them to step outside in the hall and explained to them that if the baby did not get the IV that the baby would die, I know that your beliefs are very important to your family, but I feel in this situation that the baby’s soul will be ok, the baby needs this IV to be placed to keep him alive. Could you explain this to your parents, I will get everyone out of the room so you can discuss this with your family. Just come out and let me know what your family has decided. The teenagers were able to convince their parents to let the medical staff place the IV. The baby was then transferred to UC Davis Medical
This book addresses one of the common characteristics, and challenges, of health care today: the need to achieve a working knowledge of as many cultures as possible in health care. The Hmong population of Merced, California addresses the collision between Western medicine and holistic healing traditions of the Hmong immigrants, which plays out a common dilemma in western medical centers: the need to integrate modern western medicinal remedies with aspects of cultural that are good for the well-being of the patient, and the belief of the patient’s ability to recuperate. What we see is a clash, or lack of integration in the example of the story thereof. Lia, a Hmong child with a rare form of epilepsy, must enter the western hospital instead of the Laotian forest. In the forest she would seek out herbs to remedy the problems that beset her, but in the west she is forced to enter the western medical hospital without access to those remedies, which provided not only physical but spiritual comfort to those members of the Hmong culture. The herbs that are supposed to fix her spirit in the forest are not available in the western hospital. The Merced County hospital system clashes with Hmong animist traditions.
Additionally, the clinical staff has shown very low level of confidence in the RR documentation on observation chart. Lack of time, laziness, lack of training and knowledge and unawareness of the importance of the respiratory assessment are main reasons to neglect this important aspect of nursing as stated in this study (Philip, Richardson, & Cohen,
In the novel, “The spirit catches you and you fall down”, Anne Fadiman was brilliantly able to capture how communication between other cultures takes place in the medical community. She writes about the experience of a Hmong family, the Lee’s, to portray the dissimilarities between two distinct cultures, Hmong and American. Throughout the novel she takes us on a rollercoaster of a journey as problems arise due to many barriers that naturally occur when collaborating two very divergent ways of life. Unfortunately the journey she takes us on does not come with a happy ending as we all expect. the edifying friction between the young girl’s parents and her doctors caused her to wasted away because of medical conditions, epilepsy and septic shock, which could have been treatable. Nevertheless, although Fadiman’s book depicts an unambiguous state of affairs, it is an eye opener to the nuisance of cultural conflict that can be practical to all circumstances and can be utilized by all nurses to provide cultural competent care.
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down has challenged me to start thinking about different ways to approach cultural barriers. Using the Lee family and Lia as an example, the book identifies the challenges that the family faced over the years and the challenges that the providers experienced as well. As a result, the book highlights the need for cross-cultural communication in medicine, in an attempt to eliminate the barriers faced by both parties.
As our textbook states, “Communication includes the willingness of individuals to share their thoughts and feelings” (Purnell, 2103, p. 21). To that end, the Hmong people are primarily illiterate. For this culture, they have a belief that Americans are rude because direct eye contact is maintained when conversing, as well as asking direct questions. In order for there to be successful education regarding the risks of cupping or coining as well as needle pricks, it is important to know that when speaking to someone of the Hmong culture to use quick glances without starting and to initiate a light conversation prior to asking anything regarding their beliefs, health, etc. The Purnell Model of Cultural Competence states that the domain of high-risk behaviors is one area that healthcare providers can make a significant impact on a patient’s health status (Purnell, 2013, p. 30). Advice to the parents, under these circumstances along with other obstacles that could potentially be faced due to the very different cultural aspects, would best be given via one-on-one or through family counseling techniques. From what I have learned so far from our readings, spirituality plays a very important role in a cultures health and well-being. Knowing the beliefs pertinent to the culture you are treating allows you as the provider to better assist them to attaining better health and well-being. Trust is also paramount and it is very clear that to interfere with a person’s spirituality could possibly hinder their physical recovery and actually cause physical
At Cook Children’s Hospital, NICU parents are not only seen as the parents of the infants, but they also incorporate them as part of the team. Parents are highly encouraged to spend as much time as they possibly can with their premature infants, to have physical contact with them by giving them kangaroo time, which allows parents to have skin-to-skin contact with their infant, as soon as the infant reaches the stage in which he or she is a suitable candidate to be in physical contact with their parents. Siblings who are over 3 are allowed to visit their siblings at the NICU at specific times of the day, and child life specialists help siblings understand what is going on with their baby brother or sister who is in the NICU. If they have any specific questions, the child life specialist is there to assist them. Families are referred to other institutions that will be able to help them if their facilities aren’t able to fulfill their needs. One of the institutions that...
Since expert opinion in relation to SBS is very important, there is an urgent need for both the physician and biomechanicians to collaborate so that the infant head injuries are evaluated objectively for the purposes of assisting the court.
List the values (at least 3) and beliefs (at least 3) about intercultural spiritual care you would want to put into practice in a conversation with this patient and his family. Beside each value and beliefs, provide quotations from either Bidwell (Julie) or Grefe’s chapters that help you describe why this value or belief is part of your intentional theology. Please make sure you provide at least one quote from each: Bidwell, Grefe’s chapter 6 and Grefe’s chapter
In physical therapy, patients come to the clinic with a long list of symptoms and a specific mechanism of injury. It is the physical therapists job to take this information and form hypotheses of what pathology may be affecting the patient. With the patient that has been presented in this case, a full history shows a very good description of symptoms and what the patient remembers happening when the injury occurred. With this history, an examination plan can be created in order to make this examination process thorough, but efficient.
As we know patients have a unique set of values that are influenced by their culture and spirituality. As a nursing student, I have a responsibility to demonstrate respect for my patients cultural and spiritual beliefs. For example, while I was providing morning care the patient’s grandson came in, and I respectfully asked the patient if it was okay for his grandson to stay in the room while I provided care. thus, in this situation I tried respect the health practices. There were no cultural issues.
Advocating for diverse patients is important. In this paper I will be discuss a personal ethical dilemma in which I have encountered. I will give an objective interpretation of both my side as well as my patient’s side of the dilemma. Then I will describe the conflicting values and beliefs that I and the patient had. Then I will give the information I was lacking concerning the patient’s culture. Lastly, I will define culturally congruent care.
This paper will discuss three different religions that a health care provider may care for in the nursing field. It will discuss the spiritual perspective, as well as the critical components of healing, such as through prayer and meditation. The writer will give a brief summary of each religions belief. The three religions that will be discussed in this paper are Native American, Hinduism, and Buddhism. This paper will discuss what is important to people who are cared for of a particular faith by the health care provider who may have an entirely different belief system. The writer will discuss how a patient may view a health care provider who puts aside his or her own beliefs in the interest of the beliefs and practices of the patient that is being cared for. The writer of this paper is of Christian belief and will compare her beliefs of faith and healing with the three previously mentioned religions.
The purpose of this project is to become familiarized with factual case studies, become content with collecting data, formalizing nursing diagnosis, and interventions. This project will help us learn how to essentially connect our health assessment and pathophysiology education. After completing this project we will be able to devise nursing diagnosis and interventions confidently and become further knowledgeable about the necessary subject matters.
In the book The Spirit Catches you and you Fall Down, ethnocentrism can also be seen. Throughout the book the family and the doctors have different ideas of medicine/healing techniques are often disagreed on. It’s important for the doctor to see that biomedicine has its own intentions of saving patient through standard procedures and beliefs. Understanding those terms will shed some light on the culture of the patient, which has their own intentions, beliefs, and rules as well. Breaking down ethnocentrism to find an agreement is a good goal to accomplish in order have successful prognosis and healing. In addition, shedding the ethnocentrism will allow the doctors to see the different cultural beliefs and not judge right away. Although, some cultural remedies may not always work, it’s wrong for people to have the mindset of ethnocentrism without even considering their beliefs first.
...ulture is changing, Hmong are not all the same, importance of family, privacy issues, mental health issues, and small talk is important (Barrett et al., 1998, 181-182) . Overall, Barrett and others concluded that in order to improve interaction between patient and doctor all they have to do is follow these easy steps. First, is to be kind and have a positive attitude towards the patient and interpreter. Second, learn about each other’s cultures prior to meeting, to better understand each other. Third, better explain diagnosis and treatment options to patients. Fourth, improve translation providers need to get better interpreters who could concisely explain the consultation. Fifth, involve the family to make more thorough decisions. Sixth, respect patient’s decisions and there are still other alternatives to improve interaction (Barrett et al., 1998, 182-183).