Introduction
Cultural considerations that impact the Latino in healthcare
In our society there are many different cultural groups with varying beliefs when it comes to healthcare. There are many different cultures in our society today and they play an important part with patient compliance in their treatment and beliefs about their health. As a professional nurse we must educate ourselves in how this will affect their time with us and how we can better care for them. In this paper we will examine the Latino culture and answer the following, what is their health culture practices and beliefs, what are their family patters and nutritional patterns, how do they respond to pain and child birth. Is space a consideration, do they need time set aside
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Some may communicate with spirits via a séance while in a trance or channeling. The traditional Mexican culture believe that illness results from three causes: which include that of imbalance, sin and even witchcraft. There are a number who are accepting of our Western medicine. The culture looks at physical as well as mental illness is God’s way of conveying unhappiness with a person. They think that a person with any emotional illness may then cause a physical illness in their body from too much stress. For this group life is all about balance and imbalance is what makes a person sick. Each person is responsible for his or her on balance and maintaining it. Mexicans or Latinos believe that imbalance result from hot or cold. When a person has an imbalance of their humors it is thought to cause either emotional or physical. Touching a child’s head is believed to cause an illness called caida de la mollera, which involves dehydration and vomiting and results in a fallen fontanel. Each sait has a specialized religious function: Cancer: St. Peregrine; Dying: St. Joseph; Bodily ills: Our Lady of Lourdes; Infertility: St. Anne; Chronic Illness: St. Juliana Falconierei; AIDS patients and caregivers: St. Aloysius Gonzaga; Arthritis/ …show more content…
Even though here in Texas we have to notify Life Gift autopsies and organ donations are usually resisted, especially by Catholics, but also by others. A display of public expression of grief is to be expected, especially among the women in the family. In the health care setting we have many polices that sometimes do not go along with some of the cultural that we deal with. We find that many of our hospitals and nurses go too much by the book and need to show more flexibility with our rules. It can often be difficult to accommodate a patient’s wishes without having a conflict of hospital rules. In one of the Hispanic/Latino cultures when a person is sick or dying, close family members such as the spouse, children, parents, etc. may all sit in a circle around a carefully selected food item, such as a fruit dish, placed in the middle of the room. In this culture they may spend the night conducting religious practices and praying. Some will even have a dish that sits in the center of the circle. As a result, it becomes a holy dish that holds a great religious significance; the family believes that the holy object can assist their sick or dying loved one. This dish is given many times to the nurse or others that have cared for the patient they are expecting their full compliance in placing it next to the patient to
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Show MoreJulia Alvarez in her book, Once Upon a Quinceañera, explores the quince tradition from cultural, historical and personal angles. Herein, she seeks to clarify some of the myths and ideas that surround this tradition from the notion that quinceañeras are from old Aztec traditions to the idea that this rite has been passed down from one Latino generation to another. She discovers that most contemporary quinces are firsts for many families and are different from those of the past. Consequently, the tradition depicts a group that is experiencing transformation who seek to establish their roots in a past that is somehow bleak. Many have often described the US has a melting pot of cultures. Therefore, Americans from different cultures find themselves amalgamating their values with those of the American society, thus affecting the overall culture of their communities. In Once Upon a Quinceañera, the author demonstrate and applies the cultural myth of melting pot.
Mexican Americans have strong beliefs about how to care for a loved one during times of terminal illness. Health and illness is often attributed to the will of God. Mexican Americans typically feel as if they are being punished by God or that it is simply fate that they are terminally ill (Kemp, 2001).
The increase and changing demography in the United State today, with the disparities in the health status of people from different cultural backgrounds has been a challenge for health care professionals to consider cultural diversity as a priority. It is impossible for nurses and other healthcare professionals to learn and understand theses diversity in culture, but using other approaches like an interpreter is very helpful for both nurses and patients. In this paper of a culturally appropriate care planning, I will be discussing on the Hispanic American culture because, I had come across a lot of them in my career as a nurse. The Hispanic are very diverse in terms of communication and communities and include countries like Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, South and Central America, and some of them speak and write English very well, some speaks but can’t write while some can’t communicate in English at all but Spanish.
End-of-life care in the United States is often fraught with difficult decisions and borne with great expense. Americans are often uncomfortable discussing death and
Today when people move across continents with the help of technology their culture and heritage moves along with them. Almost each and every continent is populated with people from different nations who have diverse traditions and cultures. Thus knowledge of health traditions and culture plays a vital role in nursing. People from different cultures have a unique view on health and illness. Culture-specific care is a vital skill to the modern nurse, as the United States continues to consist of many immigrants who have become assimilated into one culture. I interviewed three families of different cultures: - Indian (my culture), Hispanic and Chinese. Let us see the differences in health traditions between these cultures.
They believe that as long as you are faithful to him and you believe in him he will help you through everything they are going through. If he does not help you than at least you were faithful to the end and he will receive you with open arms. They believe that god has blessed them and this land that when we eat, drink, and breathe we are taking in his blessing. They believe that when somebody is sick they will sit around and pray constantly with the rosary. These prayers last from an hour to 3 hours depending on how much hope and prayers they want god to hear. When my great grandmother was in the hospital the last day she was living we spent all day in the hospital praying to make her feel comforted and so she wouldn’t fear
The Hispanic family structure can differ greatly from many of our traditional American families. They often have a large number of family members and all of them can be included in the health care decisions. As a nurse it is important to have an understanding and respect for the culture and work to accommodate as much as possible. The family has a much deeper meaning to the Hispanic culture; they look at their family as a sense of identity and security. There is an intense family bond. This bond, however, is not easily obtained for people who are not members of the family. friends that are brought into the family environment are trusted at a much slower speed. When Hispanics speak about their families they include great-grandparents,
Transcultural nursing requires us to care for our patients by providing culturally sensitive care to 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 define 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 to my nursing practice.
Nurses are both blessed and cursed to be with patients from the very first moments of life until their final breath. With those last breaths, each patient leaves someone behind. How do nurses handle the loss and grief that comes along with patients dying? How do they help the families and loved ones of deceased patients? Each person, no matter their background, must grieve the death of a loved one, but there is no right way to grieve and no two people will have the same reaction to death. It is the duty of nurses to respect the wishes and grieving process of each and every culture; of each and every individual (Verosky, 2006). This paper will address J. William Worden’s four tasks of mourning as well as the nursing implications involved – both when taking care of patients’ families and when coping with the loss of patients themselves.
In the clinical setting, nurses are believed to spend the most time with patients. This involves regularly dealing with people coming from different ethnicities and with different cultural practices and beliefs (Brown & Edwards, 2012). Given this cultural diversity, every patient may have his/her own cultural beliefs and practices regarding his/her own health and its treatment which can be similar or different to those ... ... middle of paper ... ... nternational Journal for Quality in Health Care, 8(5), 491-497.
In healthcare organizations, medical staff must conform to their hospital and their country’s code of conduct. Not only do they have to meet set standards, they must also take their patient into consideration. When making a decision upon a patient, medical staff must recognize religious backgrounds and spiritual beliefs. By understanding a patients’ beliefs and their belief system, a medical worker can give the patient their deserved medical assistance without overstepping boundaries or coming off as offensive. The practices and beliefs of four religions will be articulated throughout this essay to fully understand how religion can either help or hinder the healing process.
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.
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.
The ethnic- Mexican experience has changed over the years as American has progressed through certain period of times, e.g., the modernity and transformation of the southwest in the late 19th and early 20th century, the labor demands and shifting of U.S. immigration policy in the 20th century, and the Chicano Civil Rights Movement. Through these events Mexican Americans have established and shaped their culture, in order, to negotiate these precarious social and historical circumstances. Throughout the ethnic Mexicans cultural history in the United States, conflict and contradiction has played a key role in shaping their modalities of life. Beginning in the late 20th century and early 21st century ethnic Mexicans have come under distress from the force of globalization. Globalization has followed the trends of conflict and contradiction forcing ethnic Mexicans to adjust their culture and combat this force. While Mexican Americans are in the struggle against globalization and the impact it has had on their lives, e.g., unemployment more common, wages below the poverty line, globalization has had a larger impact on their motherland having devastating affects unlike anything in history.
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