A Culturally Sensitive and Diverse Environment for Patients Essay

The increasing population of immigrants in the United States has contributed to health disparities in the health care system. Cultural competence can remove health disparities by eliminating personal biases, and treating every person with respect. Simply recognizing and accepting different cultures is not enough, one must be able to consistently recognize and understand the differences in order to be culturally competent. Knowledge and culturally competent practices are a must for nurses to deliver quality care in our rapidly changing multicultural world (Edelman, 2014 p. 25).

Cultural competency aids in closing the “disparities gap” in health care. ("OMH," 2012, para. 2) In doing so, health professionals and their clients are better able to discuss concerns without cultural differences getting in the way of effective communication and problem solving. Being respectful of and sensitive to the client’s health beliefs, culture, values, and diverse needs can bring positive outcomes within treatment and patient care. After all, is it not the main job of the health care provider to ensure patient trust? Open forms of communication when dealing with client issues can only be provided if the patient is comfortable with his provider and believes his

The healthcare system within America reflects increasing numbers of cultural diversity and awareness. According to Holloway (2004), cultural awareness is defined as the deliberate, cognitive process by which health care providers become appreciative of and sensitive to the values, beliefs, practices, and problem solving strategies of the clients’ cultures. Cultural awareness include an examination of one’s personal biases. In order to understand cultural diversity, individuals must strive to acknowledge the prejudices they may already hold toward different cultures. On the other hand, cultural competence is a process through which health professionals can integrate their knowledge and skills to improve culturally effective interactions

I am a Brazilian black male with military experience and diplomatic knowledge who grew up in a low-income household in a developing country. In addition, I have traveled to about 35 countries and am acquainted with people from different socioeconomic backgrounds, religions, ethnic groups and nationalities. These characteristics and experiences allow me to see the world from perspectives that are unusual for most people. Besides being open-minded and non- judgemental toward all my future patients, I personally understand the difficulties faced by people of color, immigrants and individuals from low-income families. In sum, my background and my cultural literacy will allow me to be a sensitive and culturally aware patient-centered care.

Cultural competence in health care describes the ability to provide care to patients with diverse values, beliefs and behaviors, including tailoring health care delivery to meet patients’ social, cultural and linguistic needs. The need for healthcare systems to increase cultural competence and personalize care for ethnic patient minorities should not be ignored. Healthcare systems should promote better understanding and communication between diverse ethnic patients and caregivers. Hospitals should design a system that caters to the needs of all the populations they serve and not just apply a one-size-fits-all approach. Becoming a culturally competent health care organization is a critical component in reducing health care disparities.

Cultural competency is becoming essential in American healthcare with the increasing and diversification of immigration. The Department of Homeland Security, 2014 statistics indicates over 750,000 immigrants received naturalization in the US. These naturalized citizens represent over 20 countries varying from Hispanic, Indian, Asian, African, and Middle Eastern cultures. A change in the way American healthcare treats these cultures is necessitated to provide efficient care and achieve positive outcomes. Douglas et al. (2014) guidelines are to empower patients to help diminish the inequities of their own healthcare. The guidelines for culturally competent care are meant to guide the nurse, nurse educators, and nurse managers in their competent treatment of persons of other cultures. These guidelines mandate a nurse use education, self-assessment and reflection, and diversification of the workforce to meet the demands. The ten guidelines are knowledge of culture, 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.

As a health care professional, we are faced with caring for patients of different cultural and ethnic background. Researching and learning about the patient’s culture values, beliefs and practices is essential and remarks the ability to provide quality health care for the patient. “Organizations and individuals who understand their clients’ cultural values, beliefs, and practices are in a better position to be coparticipants with their clients in providing culturally acceptable care” (Purnell & Paulanka, 2008, p. 2). After completing the cultural competence checklist, I was able to identify some of my responses to the patient cultural values and belief practices. I will describe a summary of my assessment results, analyze

Unfortunately, the lack of culturally competent healthcare providers such as nurses, leads to negative patient outcomes and low quality healthcare. Culturally competent nurses are required to adequately treat our culturally diverse population. Nurses are frontline patient advocates and education and training in cultural competence is an intervention that will implement positive changes in healthcare delivery in the U.S.

As the United States population continues to follow the trend of increasing diversity, the need for more culturally competent healthcare professionals increases as well. According to some of the leading experts in health care policy, cultural competency in health care can be described as the ability of systems and/or healthcare professionals to provide care to patients with diverse values, beliefs, and behaviors, including tailoring delivery to meet patients’ social, cultural, and linguistic needs (Betancourt, J.R., Green, A.R., & Carrillo, J.E., 2002). These researchers assert that there are essentially three specific barriers to cultural competency in the health care setting: lack of diversity in health care’s leadership and workforce, poorly designed systems of care that fall short of meeting the needs of diverse patient populations, and poor communication between providers

Culture and values are standards that influence and shape human behaviors, decision making processes, personal relationships, and status of health and happiness. The United States has become a symbol of a multicultural society representing many different ethnicities and minority groups. As our culture continues to grow rapidly so is the necessity to increase awareness, understanding, and tolerance of these diverse groups. As health care providers we must understand the basic needs of our patients,

Respect, effective communication, empathy, and morality are the cornerstones of cultural competency. Healthcare professionals are advocates for patients and learning the beliefs, behaviors, and being sensitive to other’s way of life is critical in patient care. Obstacles for culturally competent care include xenophobia, prejudice, bigotry, stereotyping, as well as an aversion or misunderstanding of western medicine within the US healthcare system due to an unfamiliarity or a lack of knowledge of practices. It is imperative that one puts their own judgements and assumptions aside, a positive rapport is built, and effective communication is always achieved when caring for patients to ensure the best possible care is given. It is a healthcare

Healthcare has withstood several changes throughout the past few decades, however, healthcare policies are now focused more on empirical evidence rather than patient health care. Recently, I have noticed that there is an increased need for health care providers to incorporate patients culture into various treatments. The article “Patient-Centered, Culturally Sensitive Health Care (PC-CSHC) written by Carolyn M. Tucker, Julia Roncoroni, and Jackeline Sanchez presents to us that there is a need for health provides to include peoples culture into their care and interventions to promote change. I found this article to be not only educational but intriguing. Before analyzing this article, I knew that there was a needed change in health care, thus, I was satisfied to read that there are researched strategies and ways to implement change.

Continual growing access to healthcare expands the diversity of patients seeking treatment. Physicians need to be respectful and culturally aware of each individual in order to provide a high quality of care for every single patient.

Our nation has diverse people from different cultures and backgrounds. To achieve appropriate health policies’ integration, subsequent actions at the policy level, and cultural competence must be a part of an organization’s efforts to achieve and deliver healthcare to those who seek healthcare services that can meet their social, cultural, and linguistic needs. The importance of culturally appropriate health policies is that it ensures sensitivity and cultural competence, which means being aware of cultural differences and appreciating and understanding those differences and accepting them. Culturally appropriate health policies have a need across borders that deal with health disparities of people from different cultures, and availability of such

On the same note, it must be reiterated that developing a culturally competent workforce will play a major role. Although it is possible to implement standards, so as to be effective, the first task for healthcare providers would understand how to adapt their practice in order to effectively manage aspects connected with culture and health. Moreover, they have to provide patient-centered care in a manner that is efficient. As far as Park et al (2011) are concerned, providers who are culturally competent should be able to negotiate care in a bid to bridge cultural norms, behaviors and practice. Furthermore, this must be done to adapt care provided to particular contexts. In this regard, it is important to ensure that standards reflect the global, national and regional policies. The focus must also be placed on submissions that completely and effectively address health needs of their population and health standards, irrespective of geographical area. As a result, O'Connell et al (2013) believe providers will create a workforce and a system of healthcare delivery that can provide exceptional care to each patient regardless of differences like race and language