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Cultural competence in nursing practice essay
Cultural competence in nursing practice essay
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The interviewee was born in Saigon, Vietnam. She is the eldest of a total of five siblings, two sisters and three brothers. She was raised in a very poor and underprivileged neighborhood, where providing food for the family was an everyday struggle. At the age of thirteen, the interviewee was sponsored to North Carolina, United States in hopes for a better lifestyle.
The interviewee describes her first impression of the United States as “heaven-like.” She states, “There is so much food to eat. Everywhere is so clean and everyone is so kind. They say hi to me even though I don’t know them.” Unlike the streets in America, the sidewalks in Vietnam are unsanitary and filled with homeless people.
The interviewee states that she is grateful for healthcare in America. She was surprised that the U.S. provided free health care for low-income children. When she first arrived to America, she was able to receive free dental cleaning, physical exams and immunizations.
The interviewee’s first impression of nursing was that the nurses in America are “very caring, friendly, and professional.” They discuss their plan of care with the patient before they actually carry out the procedure. The interviewee states, “Nurses in Vietnam are mean and do not communicate with patient. Nurses in America are very informative. They slowly explain things to me before they do anything. They tell me if something will hurt or sting. They don’t do that in Vietnam.”
If I were to provide my client with culturally competent nursing care, I would begin by conducting a cultural assessment to “implement culturally congruent and safe nursing care” (Potter and Perry, 2013, p. 107). A cultural assessment includes collecting census data, asking questions, and establishing re...
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... different language than Chinese. By taking the time to educate myself about my client’s culture, I can provide more thorough care for my client. Patient care can be run much more smoothly if the nurse is educated about the client’s preferences. The patient might not be making eye contact because she believes it is disrespectful. She may also be more private and does not like to disclose personal information. Culture plays a big role in the type of care that a patient receives. It determines how comfortable a patient is with certain things, which can speed up their healing process. There are many things to cultural considerations when caring for a patient. This includes their language, religion, family, and the client’s values. A nurse must consider all of the patient’s preferences and beliefs in order to provide their client with the best culturally competent care.
Douglas, Rosenkoetter, Pacquiao, Callister, Hattar-Pollara, Lauderdale, Milstead, Nardi, & Purnell (2014) outline ten guidelines for implementing culturally competent care; knowledge of cultures, education and training in culturally competent care, critical reflection, cross-cultural communication, culturally competent practice, cultural competence in health care systems and organizations, patient advocacy and empowerment, multicultural workforce, cross-cultural leadership, and evidence-based practice and research. One specific suggestion I will incorporate is to engage in critical reflection. This is mentioned both by Douglas, et al. (2014) and Trentham, et al. (2007) as an important part of cultural competency. I will do this by looking at my own culture, beliefs, and values and examining how they affect my actions. I will use this information to better inform my day to day practice when working with patients with a different culture than my
Over the years, I have developed a stable cultural sensitivity aptitude. I find it is most important to take cues from the patient and their families on how to care for them. As well as to ask the patient what is most important to them and how I can best serve them. In his article, Collins (2015), states that “improved health outcomes are achieved when culturally competent nurses acknowledge the patient’s culture care values and preferred care practices, and incorporate into the professional plan of care the patient’s generic care wishes” (p. 11). I have encountered a few situations which make me most uncomfortable, families not wanting the patient to know the severity of their illness, and obvious servitude behaviors toward the females to name a couple. When these occur, I have found the inclusion of the charge nurse, the physician and social services can lessen the negative outcomes in these situations. My goal is to assure the patient is cared for in a manner that is most comfortable to them and satisfies their needs to ensure a speedy and comprehensive recovery. Another practice in my own career has been to share the cultural information gathered with oncoming shifts of care givers, the charge nurse and
Environmental justice can influence the population’s health. This environmental justice is relevant to nursing, because awareness brings changes and can save and improve many lives. When a person in a hospital or in a community setting is affected by a health problem, the entire community is at risk, knowing the population is lack of knowledge and have limited access to understand health care system. Therefore, a solution to eliminating cultural disparities is optimal for immigrant communities. In conformity with the Journal of Transcultural Nursing journal, nurses need to follow 12 steps to have a successful result when integrating cultural competence in the health care environment: social justice, critical reflection, knowledge of cultures, culturally competent practice, cultural competence in the health care systems and organizations, patient advocacy and empowerment, multicultural workforce, education and training in culturally competent care, cross-cultural communication, cross-cultural leadership, policy development, a...
Advanced practice registered nurses play a significant part in extending access to health care by providing primary care and specialty care services to clients. Advanced practices registered are mentors, educators, researchers, and administrators. According to Health Resources and Services Administration, “Ninety-six percent of the NP workforce reported being in clinical practice, providing direct patient care” (Health Resources and Services Administration 2016). Furthermore, “Nearly three percentages were in faculty positions and approximately one percent was in administrative positions”(Health Resources and Services Administration 2016).
A research shows that “ America is very good at adopting new things and it’s a place that it’s ok to do what you want” but people should start finding happiness; they should realize what they are meant to do in this world. After living here for almost five years, my parents realized where they belong to and it’s their hometown of Hue, Vietnam. I hope that people find their real home like how my parents did. Writing this essay, I hope to understand more about other immigrant’s lives in the U.S. I want to discover all the stories that will help others understand what life is like because I’m sure that there are people who are happy but there are also people that similar to my family.
Bentancourt et al. (2005) allows asserts that there are three distinctive reasons why cultural competency is so very important for the American healthcare system. American is composed of a very diverse population, which mean healthcare providers will continual be exposed to treating individuals from various backgrounds and from various cultures; their beliefs regarding their health or healthcare may range widely. When patients have a deficiency in the English language, proper healthcare delivery becomes increasingly more difficult as they will present symptoms in the syntax of their culture and their first language. Also, research shows the communication between the patient and their provider directly correlates to their satisfaction as well as their responsiveness or willingness to follow the health provider medical instructions; this ultimately affects the patient’s health outcome (Bentancourt et al., 2005). It’s fair to say that a successful health outcome is also contingent upon the interaction of the health provider and patient. Reports generated by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) – “Crossing the Quality Chasm and Unequal Treatment, confirms that cultural competence that focuses on the care of patient through
By understanding the way a culture factor influences nursing care, we are able to improve our teachings, improve understanding and provide overall better care for a healthier outcome for our patients. An example of this could be having a staff member that is bilingual or teaching materials written in a different language. According to Andrews & Boyle (2016), the first step is for the nurse to do a self-assessment of themselves in order to identify their beliefs toward people with different backgrounds, which will provide clarification of possible unknown behaviors. The second step is to set goals for the patient and those involved with the patient’s care.
As nurses entering the medical field understanding the culture of our patients is crucial to proper care. Each culture has their own set of beliefs and values that are shared among groups of people which influences personality, language, lifestyles, house hold, level modesty, social standings, foods, health treatment and identity. Culture affects how people view health and illness; dictating when, where and what type of medical treatment they will receive and who will be their care provider.
I was born in a run down hospital in the middle of Nazareth, Ethiopia. My family immigrated to The United States of America when I was four. This fact plays a pivotal role in who I perceive myself to be and how I carry myself. The first few years of my life are incumbent in my memory and have an effect on my continual thoughts. To me, coming to America meant opportunities that are not present in a third world country. I am a foreigner whose parents decided to plant the seeds of tomorrow in a distant but propitious land. As a direct result of their initiative, we have found ourselves flourishing in this non-native land we have come to call home.
Miller, Leininger, Leuning, Pacquiao, Andrews, and Ludwig-Beyer, (2008) support that the skill of cultural competency in nursing is the ability to gather relevant cultural data on the presenting problem of the patient. This cultural assessment is defined as a "...
Understanding cultural differences not only improves the effectiveness of the treatment the patient receives, it is also help the nurse to prevent negliency of care. It is impostant to maintain a curiosity about each patient no matter how much we know abouth that person's culture.
Characteristics can be as diverse as ethnic background, language spoken, gender status, physical appearance, race, and religion to name a few. Migration from various countries is creating a diverse population with different cultures and languages within the United States. Due to these cultural differences and lack of knowledge, disparities are increasing. Studies have shown that both language barriers and lack of cultural customs can hinder the services provided to the patient by the healthcare worker (Renzaho, Romios, Crock, & Sonderlund, 2013). This study provided a positive outcome when communication and cultural mutual understanding took place and patients had a more positive health outcome. It is very important that nurses are diversified in various cultures in order to better care for our patients. According to Mareno and Hart (2014), cultural competency has become one of the core values being taught in nursing programs. Their study showed that the perceived level of cultural awareness and skills among the nurses provided was low. Awareness and knowledge levels increased with higher education. It was highly recommended that self-awareness exercises be incorporated into the nursing course and continued to be addressed during the remaining curriculum until
The student nurse interviewed a registered nurse in the trauma department who worked at Holy Redeemer Hospital, and the nurse has been working at the hospital for the past ten years. The interviewee’s definition of nursing is the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness and injury. She believes that nursing is to help others that are in need for both medical and emotional support. This profession is mainly aimed towards those who are compassionate about healing others. As the nurse explains her daily challenges with patients, she uncovers that a person who wants to pursue nursing has to have a tremendous amount of patience. Patience can help keep the nerves calm for the nurse, if patients are giving
For example, I have had patients from Nepal. Because of this, I have educated myself on their cultural beliefs, including the usual diet, the belief that the husband is to make the decisions, and that they prefer providers of the same gender. Overall, it is imperative to provide culturally specific care to our patients by assessing their cultural differences and needs. In conclusion, it is necessary for nurses to be aware of the cultural diversity of our patients. We must culturally assess, develop a plan, and implement care based on the patient’s cultural needs in order to provide culturally congruent nursing care for each individualized patient.
Culture diversity is extremely important in nursing as it identifies and appreciates the differences among individuals. Healthcare professionals should strive for cultural competence or the ability to intuitively deliver care that meets the cultural needs of a specific patient population (DeNisco & Barker, 2016, p. 554). The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the how cultural awareness and communication are key components in providing meaningful, effective healthcare in a designate demographic. I selected the rural Native Veteran population because as a Veteran Health Administration’s (VHA) employee I have witnessed first-hand how Veterans are a forgotten culture within healthcare. I have also noticed how subgroups such as Native Veterans