Cultural Competence In Health Care

To work effectively in a foreign community, it is crucial that short-term nurses have an understanding of culture, belief system, and their lifestyles. Nurses needs to be culturally competence to provide patient centered effective healthcare. Culture competence is the ability of healthcare professionals to understand the social, cultural and linguistic needs of patients to provide effective health care (Georgetown University Health Policy Institute, 2004). A lack of culture competence can lead to poor patient outcome. For example, if a nurse has a poor understanding of a diabetic patient's diet, and food preference, that could inhibit the nurse's ability to educate patient to manage the disease. In order to work effectively in a foreign community,

I was born and raised in India. There are many cultural believes that affect healthcare decisions, such as, when people have flu, or common cold, people avoid anything cold, and citrus. However, drinking Vitamin C helps with common cold, and flu. Therefore, as a foreign nurse in India, it would be crucial to understand patient's believe systems, so I can educate them appropriately. In order to be successful, I would focus on individual patient, their specific needs, and preferences while being sensitive to their cultural and personal believes.

To work in the most effective way, I would learn what type of resources are available, and how to work if the resources are limited. I would focus on preventive illness, and learn the best way to educate patients. I would also understand the social determinants, and focus on identifying the specific community needs. The main focus would be to provide good quality care in a timely manner, using available resources in a cultural sensitive manner.

What orientation will you seek when you arrive in the community to feel confident that you are competent in your temporary

By understanding patient's culture beliefs, nurses can decrease gap, and allows for better communications even if both are from different cultures. I would educate myself about the background of the community, and understand how cultural beliefs influences patient healthcare decision. For example, certain cultures avoid pork derived insulin, so it is extremely important for me to understand their beliefs. Therefore, it would be important for me to understand their culture, and learn how to adapt to doing things in a different