Culture And Communication In Nursing

Impact of culture on nursing profession

Language and communication

Trans-cultural encounters like language and communication influence the way nurses talk and behave to patients. Communication involves listening, dialogue and good interpersonal climate that develop personally with each sick person, especially in this multicultural society.

Communication as defined by Loubrini Kourkouta is the exchange of information, thoughts and feelings among people using speech or signs. For effective communication, nurses are on one side and patients on the other side making it a two-way thing. The patient conveys his/her fears and concerns to their nurse who helps them make a correct nursing diagnosis. Communication is a transaction and message transaction,

People who join the community find them selves at the bottom of the social status and this in most cases is associated with poor health and report of pain.

Zborowski stated that, a cultural groups expectations and acceptance of pain as normal part of life will determine whether its seen as clinical problem that will whether it is seen as a clinical problem that require a clinical solution.

Australian aborigi illustrates that, despite one third of men and half of women reporting back pain when asked, they don’t perceive it to be health problem and consequently don’t report symptoms.

In rural Nepal study found back pain to be common and yet when medical facilities where available no one sought help as it was not perceived to be a medical issues rather part of aging.

Carey and Garret echoed comparison to white patients; black patients recorded worse disability as measured by Roland Mounis.

Mrs Sussex peacock and Shilpa Patel.

Pain is a common reason for patients to enter heath care setting like personality where very many big personalities do with being stoic in order not to be perceived as weak.

Some cultures allow expression of pain like the middle easterners

Decision-making

Decision-making simply means who is able to make a decision on the well being of the patient. Multi-cultural differences and development of communities and the world at large has also impacted on the way nursing profession is weighed. Different cultures have different heads and different ways in decision-making, African most of the times the decision falls on the father to make a ruling on what should happen to the patient.

In America, in case a man realizes he has cancer he tells the wife first and they tell the kids together and most of the decisions are taken as parents.

Knowing who the decision maker in the family is helps the nurse relay information to the right person without hurting other family members with information they cant handle.

Nurses have to be able to what to tell to each family member and this helps speed up decision plus saving lives. Nurses have to have this skill and this takes coaching, time and learning.

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