Personal cultural and experience influences an individual in supporting clients and colleagues at health and social care workplace. Principles and values at the workplace include providing equal rights to each and every individual, maintaining confidentiality at the workplace, protecting the clients from any kind of abuse and harm; having own cultural beliefs and experience helps the person to make sure that it could provide better and effective services to the services users. My personal cultural and experience ensure that I serve fair and effective treatment and care to the clients.
In nursing school, students were introduced to the idea of cultural competence. It is a concept that I am familiar with due to my cultural background. Being respectful and aware of the beliefs and values of other traditions cannot be neglected and ignored. We are all global citizens that hold different views and perspectives, therefore leaders must equip themselves with the understanding that people expect and will act differently based on their cultural beliefs.
If nurses lack of understanding regarding community demographics and cultural differences, they can have unintentional bias, and stereotype patients due to a lack of awareness of the cultural demographics of the community they serve (Camphinha-Bacote, 2011). Cultural competence is the understanding of different cultures and how that impacts the provision of patient care. Cultural competence in nursing is defined as one willingness or the desire to understand a patient’s culture, the ability to learn about a defined cultures belief system, and to work effectively as a healthcare provider understanding the dynamics of the patient’s culture as it relates to their relationships and care (Kardong-Edgren et Al.,
In a culturally diverse country like the United States, healthcare professionals such as nurses will work with people of different cultural backgrounds who have different view of health and illness. Mcgoldrick, Giordano & Preto (2006) concluded that a sense of well-being in terms of physical and mental health within a societal context is strongly affected by cultural identity. Shared values, behaviors, beliefs and ethno-cultural attitudes of a community influence life experiences and decision we make (Yolanda & Griselda, 2006). With this in mind, it is essential for the nurses recognize the importance patients’ cultural values rooted in their health seeking behaviors. Culture Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines culture as a
In health care today, there are many different cultures found in our patient population. Patients often have difficulty conforming to medical regimens due to their cultural beliefs and practices. Completing a comprehensive cultural assessment is the key to understanding the specific components of their culture to facilitate effective and efficient nursing care. In this paper I will describe the key components of a comprehensive cultural assessment. Two of the components will be discussed in relation to the Afghan culture and how that impacts providing culturally diverse care.
My capstone project is about the need for nurses to learn about cultural diversity, cultural awareness and cultural sensitivity. This has been a fascinating project to explore and I am learning about so many cultural beliefs. When a patient's cultural practice is understood competent patient care is rendered and health care disparities are eliminated. For example, in some cultures many people believe that illness and evil can be prevented by following strict religious codes, morals and practices.
Leininger’s theory was effectively applied and incorporated in ANA scope and standard number eight culturally congruent practice. It is the application of evidence-based nursing that is in agreement with the preferred cultural values, beliefs, worldview, and practices of the healthcare consumers and other stakeholders. The theory demonstrates respect, equity, and empathy in actions and interactions with all healthcare consumers. Nurses and health care workers applied to practice by participating in lifelong learning to understanding cultural preferences, choices, and decision-making processes of diverse consumers. It also identifies the stage of the consumer’s acculturation and accompanying needs and engagement.
Great points Seema, as per Giger (2013), nurse practitioners are expected to prepare to provide culturally fitting nursing care for their clients, regardless of cultural background. You are right in order to deliver appropriate nursing care they should know the important factors that affect person’s health and illness behaviors. Accurate cultural assessment can give an insight about behaviors that might otherwise be guessed negatively. If the cultural behaviors are not appropriately recognized, their significance will be confusing to the nurse. The main inspiration, for knowing culture is that culture is intertwined with an individual’s health beliefs, values, preferences and practices.
Nurses working in the healthcare industry meet patients from many different backgrounds and cultures. It is important for a nurse to know beliefs of different cultures in order to provide culturally competent care to patients. The purpose of this paper is to teach about the health practices and beliefs of
Culture is an important guiding force in an individual life, and it shapes not only their perception but their relationship with people and the world around them. It is the diversity of culture that defines one and makes them unique. An individual lifestyle, guiding beliefs and underlying assumptions about life are affected by culture. According to Lowenstein & Bradshaw (2014), the classroom and clinical settings are deemed multicultural due to the massive influx of immigrants entering the country. These multicultural trends pose a challenge to nursing educators to create an innovative curriculum that is culturally sensitive to meet the needs of students.
Madeline Leininger’s Cultural Care Diversity and Universality Theory, deals with the impact of culture on health and healing. In health care today, a nurse must deal with people from many backgrounds, cultures, and ethnic origins. Transcultural nursing is practiced throughout nursing when caring for people from different cultures. The purpose of Leininger’s theory is to produce knowledge related to nursing care of people from diverse nationalities, who value their ethnic heritage and culture. Leininger’s theory recognized and understood cultural differences and similarities while caring for patients of different backgrounds.
Cultural competency: Indians Culture competency is defined as one has the knowledge, the abilities and the skill to deliver care congruent with the patient’s cultural beliefs and practices (Purnell, 2013). As a nurse or a health care provider, increasing ones consciousness of culture diversity improves the possibilities for health care practitioners to provide competent care (Purnell, 2013). Nurses and all health care providers should be aware of other cultures to provide the best care that they can for that individual. Developing a relationship with diverse cultural groups involves good interpersonal skills and the application of knowledge and techniques learned from the physical, biological, and social sciences as well as the humanities (Purnell, 2013). I am choosing to select the Indian culture for my first assignment.
Culturally competent nurses advocates for patients regardless of cultural differences. Hollinger-Smith (n.d) “A health care professional who has learned cultural competence engages in assistive, supportive, facilitative, or enabling acts that are tailor-made to fit with individual, group, or institutional cultural values, beliefs, and lifeways in order to provide quality health care” (p. 2). Nurses look to profit from a better health care system and practice mutual respect, formality, thoughtfulness and overall good
Cultural competent care means being able to care within the patients ' cultural beliefs proudly. A community health nurse needs to obtain knowledge, skills continually, and assess themselves. Nurses develop cultural competence in different ways by experiences with patients from cultures, respect for cultural differences. The community health nurses should evaluate each patients’ cultural beliefs, values, meanings, and behaviors of people while taking history, life experiences, social and physical environments. The community health care nurses must put efforts to provide care to the diverse population.
Growing up is in rural area in Upper Michigan, I did not experience many cultures other than my own until moved at the age of eighteen to Pennsylvania. It was a culture shock as some would say. Over the years, I have had to do several cultural assessments, and try to understand other cultures to help me provide nursing care, even if I did not not agree, such as refusing treatments for an example. As nurses, we encounter different cultures on a daily basis, and we have to be able to separate our own cultural beliefs and bias to be able to deliver effective, safe, nursing care while maintaining cultural dignity of the client (Li, Richardson, Speck, & Armes, 2014). Reference Andrews, M. M., & Boyle, J. S. (2016).
