Advocacy and its Role in Cultural Diversity There are many times that I may not agree with a patient with their treatment choice. However, as their nurse I am their advocate. As their advocate I try to help them get all the answers they need by using available resources. A big concept to remember when caring for patients is to respect their culture and involve their culture in their care. Unfortunately, when culture is not involved conflicts can occur. The purpose of this paper is to describe an ethical dilemma, discuss both sides of the issue and define culturally congruent care.
Describe an Ethical Dilemma
I had a patient that was bedbound and came in with pneumonia. The patient was Italian and Catholic. He was in his late eighties and
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It was missed that the family was close and intimate when trying to understand their concern for seeing their father decline. It was also missed that they believe in dying from natural causes and not direct action (Andrews & Boyle, 2016). I notice that as a health care team we sometimes dismiss feelings and just look at the science and how to fix things.
Define Culturally Congruent Care
Culturally congruent care is very important in healthcare. If it is incorporated correctly it can avoid conflicts and deliver better health outcomes. It is care that fits the client’s culture beliefs and practices (Andrews & Boyle, 2016). It uses their beliefs and practices to treat their “wellness, health, illness, disease, death, and dying” (Andrews & Boyle, 2016). I recommend talking to the patient and finding out what their preference is.
In conclusion culture is very important when providing care for patients. It can indicate why families and patients make the decisions that they do. However, all conflicts cannot be avoided but they can be handled better and understood. Culturally congruent care is incorporating a patient’s care into practice with their care. The act of the nursing carrying out that care is being culturally
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
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
This essay will focus on outlining the fundamental principles of cultural diversity and how effective nursing interventions are used when providing an adequate amount of care for an individual from a culturally diverse background and how this may collide with the nursing therapeutic engagement. This essay will give the reader an insight upon culture whilst giving a significant explanation of cultural differences within a health setting. The patient’s real name will not be used and will be referred to as Mr. X. This is in line with the Nursing and midwifery Council 2008 (NMC, 2008) requirements to maintain confidentiality at all times.
Issues of culture are often controversial. LaBorde (2010) has noted that culture is always a factor in conflict. Ironically, conflict can provide nurses with an excellent opportunity for developing compassion that will lead nurses unto a place of meeting in which there is a deep respect for differences and equally intentional openness to the possibility of connection. Healthcare practitioners are confronted in a daily basis with the practical manifestation of these issues. In particular, nurses are more confronted by cultural issues than the other healthcare providers because nurses spend majority of their time with patients. However, some nurses are reluctant to confront and discuss the cultural issues because of lack of knowledge in dealing with patients of diverse cultures (Tjale & Villiers, 2004).
Culture care is grounded within one’s worldview, which is shape by social structure factors such as religion, economics, cultural values, environmental context, ethnohistory, and language (Alligood, 2014; Sitzman & Eichelberger, 2015). Moreover, culture care share similarities and differences related to health and well-being, how individual deal with disability and death, as well as, when to seek relief from illnesses or distress. As culture plays a vital role in health care seeking habits and decision making, it is imperative for nurses to fully understand cultural knowledge. With increase cultural knowledge, nurses are better able to implement care plans that are beneficial to the patient with respect to their beliefs, values, and cultural
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.
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.
Culture, as define by Giddens, is a “pattern of shared attitudes, beliefs, self-definitions, norms, roles, and values that can occur among those who speak a particular language, or live in a defined geographical region.” (Giddens, 2013, p. 29) When constructing a nursing care plan it is important to understand the patients’ cultural background to fully understand how to care for them. Depending on what culture the individual identifies with, will direct the nurse to which nursing interventions need implemented in regards to certain aspects of care including health care practices and beliefs, how the patient views developmental and family roles, how communication occurs between patient and provider and possibly if that patient has any health
Ethnocentrism can be defined as judgement of different cultures based on standards of one’s own culture. Therefore, whilst providing care, it is important for nurses to avoid ethnocentrism as this approach can have negative consequences for the patient and quality of care is jeopardised. Generally, everyone has their own beliefs, practices and values thus it becomes an issue for someone to impose own views upon someone else. In terms of a nurse imposing their percepective on a patient the patient’s reaction can differ from becoming passive, to being defiant to receiving care. Refusal of care potentially leads to a situation that could be harmful or detrimental to their health. Ethnocentrism leads to assumptions and stereotype that can cause nurses to fail in treating patients as an individual. Consequently patient centred care is neglected meaning individual care requirements are no met. Additionally there would be negative feelings from patients towards nurses thus the relationship build is one that lack trust. The possible result of the mistrust and lack of comfort could be reluctance to communicate. Communication offers sharing of information and idea thus care is better provided when patient provide information on their health. Lack of communication can potentially lead to health deterioration. In short, ethnocentrism can be harmful as it hinders quality of care thus it is beneficial for patients if nurses avoid practicing in such a
“Cultural awareness is the foundation of communication and it involves the ability of standing back from ourselves and becoming aware of our cultural values, beliefs and perceptions (Quappe, 2007). It is important to be aware of what culture your patient is from because than the nurse can give the patient and family the care that is not offensive o their beliefs. Cultural sensitivity Cultural sensitivity is experienced when neutral language–both verbal and nonverbal–is used in a way that reflects sensitivity and appreciation for the diversity of another. It is conveyed when words, phrases, categorizations, etc. are intentionally avoided, especially when referring to any individual who may interpret them as impolite or offensive (Giger, 2006). Being sensitivity to ones cultural is imperative, this allows the patient and or family to feel more comfortable and have their personal beliefs be respected. Different forms of cultural sensitivity include choice of words and language used while talking to a patient, the use of space while communicating, as well as who in the family to talk to and how to address patients and family. Cultural competence is a combination of the skills, knowledge and attitudes that are needed to deliver the proper excellent care to a diverse population. Cultural competence is relevant in order to be able to give
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.
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.
An individual’s culture and belief may significantly impact the type of services they require. In addition, it may affect the time, place, and method in the delivery of health care
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.
Cultural competence can be defined as using the ability of one’s awareness, attitude, knowledge and skill to effectively interact with a patient’s many cultural differences. Madeline Leininger, a pioneer on transcultural nursing describes it this way; “a formal area of study and practice focused on comparative human-care differences and similarities of the beliefs, values and patterned lifeways of cultures to provide culturally congruent, meaningful, and beneficial health care to people” (Barker, 2009, p. 498). The importance of cultural diversity in healthcare allows for the delivery of appropriate cultural autonomy. Showing respect for others will lead to trust between nurse and patient which in turn improves healing and health.