Transcultural nursing requires us to care for our patients by providing culturally sensitive care over a broad spectrum of patients. The purpose of this post is to describe cultural baggage, ethnocentrism, cultural imposition, prejudice, discrimination, and cultural congruence. I will also give an example of each term to help you understand the terminology related to nursing care. I will definite cultural self-assessment and explain why it is valuable for nurses to understand what their own self-assessment means. Finally, I will describe the five steps to delivering culturally congruent nursing care and how I have applied these concepts in my nursing practice. The first concept is cultural baggage. Cultural baggage refers to a person’s own Nursing cultural congruence is when we adapt to another’s beliefs, values and lifestyle in order to provide that individual or group better care (Andrews & Boyle, 2016). In order for a nurse to have cultural congruence, they must have some type of knowledge of the various cultural traditions and respect those cultures. 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 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 a goal between the patient and those involved with the patient’s care. Step three involves developing a care plan that will include all cultural factors involving the patients care. Step four is implementation of the care plan by the healthcare team and those involved with the patient’s care. Step five is the last step and evaluates the care plan to make sure that the quality of care is acceptable and is based off scientific evidence and best practices. If there are any changes or adjustments that need to be made with the patient’s care, modification will be done to the care plan and these steps should be repeated (Andrews & Boyle,
These differences in origin accounts for diversity in socio-cultural backgrounds and nurses must develop the knowledge and the skills to engage patients from different cultures and to understand the beliefs and the values of those cultures (Jarvis, 2012). If healthcare professionals focus only on a narrowly defined biomedical approach to the treatment of disease, they will often misunderstand their patients, miss valuable diagnostic cues, and experience higher rates of patient noncompliance with therapies. Thus, it is important for a nurse to know what sociocultural background a patient is coming from in order to deliver safe an effective
McClimens, A., Brewster, J., & Lewis, R. (2014). Recognising and respecting patients ' cultural diversity. Nursing Standard (2014+), 28(28), 45.
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...
As a nurse, I am obligated to care for all cultures, and try to understand their values, beliefs, spirituality, gender roles, and language. Cultures can range from different families, environments, disabilities, or even genders. It is a very broad topic, and I hope to recognize these cultures in my nursing career. Some barriers may exist that can make it challenging to work with people of a different culture, but it is possible to overcome these with the resources within the health care system. The Health Policy Institute identifies that “[t]he goal of culturally competent health care services is to provide the highest quality of care to every patient, regardless of race, ethnicity, cultural background, English proficiency or literacy” (“Cultural Competence”, 2004). Additionally, cultural competence is an ongoing process that involves both the client, and health care professional to work together that best suits the client’s
To start, integrating the theory will lead the nurse to understand and acknowledge the vast patient population of a multicultural society. This in turn, will result with the nurse individualizing patient care and educational materials to fit personal needs, values, and beliefs of the patient leading to wholistic care of the human being. Overall, incorporating the theory will lead to an improvement in patient outcomes. Sitzman and Eichelberger (2015) wrote that if patients’ experienced nursing care that fails to incorporate their needs, they will develop cultural conflict, noncompliance, and
Providing culturally competent care is a vital responsibility of a nurse’s role in healthcare. “Culturally competent care means conveying acceptance of the patient’s health beliefs while sharing information, encouraging self-efficiency, and strengthening the patients coping resources” (Giddens, 2013). Competence is achieved through and ongoing process of understanding another culture and learning to accept and respect the differences.
In the health profession, the diversity of people requires the ability to carefully, respectfully and effectively provide care. For this reason, it is vital that the approach of care delivered to patients depend on each individuals. This approach ensures patients receive best quality of care possible and avoid situations that can potentially prevent improvement of health status. This essay will discuss the importance of nurses to be cultural competent, possible consequences of ethnocentrism and how critical reflection can help prevent ethnocentricity.
Having cultural awareness, cultural sensitivity and cultural competence is very relevant as a professional nurse. There are many different models used for cultural assessments that were created by nurses. The Giger and Davidhizar’s Model of transcultural nursing outlines six factors that is useful in cultural assessment. This Model centers on patient’s health beliefs and health traditions. There is key information needed to perform an adequate cultural assessment in diverse cultures. There are diverse cultures and ethnicities found in my local community. The Russian community is prevenient in my community and has their own beliefs, health issues and health behaviors.
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.
The term culture is defined as “the thoughts, communications, actions, customs, beliefs, values, and institutions of racial, ethnic, religious, or social groups” (Potter & Perry, 2013). With the increase of culturally diverse populations in the United States, it is important for nurses to practice cultural competence. Cultural competence is the ability to acquire specific behaviors, skills, attitudes, and policies in a system that permits “effective work in a cross-cultural setting” (OMH, 2013). Being culturally competent is essential because nurses who acknowledges and respects a patient’s health beliefs and practices are more likely to have positive health outcomes (OMH, 2012). Every culture has certain views and attitudes concerning health. The Jewish (also referred to as Jews), in particular, have intriguing health practices and beliefs that health care providers need to be aware of.
As a nurse strive to provide culturally sensitive care, they must recognize how their client's and their perceptions are similiar as well as different. Nurse enhance their ability to provide client-centered care by reflecting on how their beliefs and values impact the nurse-patient relationship. To provide appropriate patient care, the nurse must understand her/his culture and that of the nurse profession. Cultural biases can be particularly difficult to identify when the nurse and client are of a similar cultural backgroup. When we recognize and know a culture, we will know what is right for our patient, and thus may impose our own values on the client by assuming our values are their values. Recognizing differences a present an opportunity not only to know the other, but also to help gain a greater sense of self. In this paper, I will explain more about diversity and cultural competence in case study.
Leininger M. & McFarland M.R. (2002). Transcultural nursing: concepts, theories, research, and practice (3rd ed.). New York, New York: McGraw-Hill Companies Inc.
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
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 "...