Caring For Muslim Patient Essay

Health in all cultures is an important aspect of life. A person’s cultural background, religion and/or beliefs, greatly influences a person’s health and their response to medical care (Spector, 2004). These diverse cultures guide decisions made in daily life; what food eaten, living arrangements made, medications taken and medical advice listened to. A nurse must be knowledgeable and respectful of these diverse cultures and understand their importance when providing care. This understanding helps to build a strong nurse/patient relationship, increasing patient compliance, which ensures positive outcomes are met. Patients who are satisfied

The care of dying patients and their relatives is one of the most difficult aspects of a doctor 's job. Enabling an individual to die with dignity can also be deeply rewarding. Britain today is a cosmopolitan society made up of people from numerous religious and cultural traditions. The care of patients with backgrounds different from one 's own requires knowledge and skills. There are approximately 2 million Muslims in the UK1.

Many people have seen the increase of immigrants coming to the United States. “Census 2000 measured a U.S. population of 281.4 million, including 1.2 million who reported and Arab ancestry” (de la Cruz and Brittingham, 2000). Arab Americans are those people who speak or are descendents of Arabic-speaking populations. As doctors and caregivers continue to provide care to those that speak English, communication between them is easy. But when this simple task is changed when there is a patient from a different culture, it produces challenges that both parties have to overcome. Doctors and caregivers have to increase their cultural awareness and sensitivity so that there is a good

When culturally competent nurses interact with other cultures, they observe how members of the culture communicate, watching for verbal and non-verbal cues. Eye contact is important to identify. For some cultures direct eye contact is not polite. Touch for some cultures is prohibited. If needed, nurses should explain the reason for touching the patient before proceeding. In some cultures males cannot be caregivers of females. Silence doesn’t always mean miscommunication or patient apathy. For some cultures is a positive non-verbal cue or a sign of respect or agreement. Space and distance is very important when providing care. Patients can place themselves close or far from the nurse based on their culture. Healthcare beliefs also vary from cultures. Some cultures are compliant with cares while others may not be very cooperative. Based on these observations, nurses can plan their plan of care based on the patient’s needs (Maier-Lorentz, 2008 Journal Of Cultural Diversity). Nurses also need to observe pain non-verbal cues, food preferences, family arrangements and general norms and interactions.

Historically, Muslim interaction with our healthcare is tangled between religion and their history in our country. Specific believes have always played a role in the ability for women to attend a health care establishment or undergoing daily assessments from a health provider.

Mrs. X is 55 years old, female Muslim patient with limited English, she came to the radiography department with her husband (Mr. X) to have a full spine x-ray due to chronic pain in the spine that showed no improvement. Many physical contacts and communication were involved, and Mrs. X needed to disrobe. Islamic culture places a high level of sensitivity towards these aspects of examination and thus, cultural appropriate practices and behaviours must be properly applied. Due to the prohibitions on health care practices introduced by her Islamic religion, many strategies were taken to deliver cultural appropriate environment and communication. Through the investigation

When treating a female patient who is Muslim, which of the following would be important to consider for their appointments?

Sometimes a translator may be of the highest regard. Though needing a translator is possible, it is unlikely due to the fact that most Lebanese are fluent in two or three languages. “While Arabic is Lebanon’s official language, English and French are widely spoken” (“What languages are spoken in Lebanon?,” 2012). When communicating, it is important to have limited eye contact with the client. Staring or displaying frequent directness can be interpreted as rude (Muslim Culture, 2014). “Muslim Culture,” further informs: “calling them by their first name or their last name without the prefix of Mr., Mrs., or Miss is considered impolite among Muslims” (2014). To show respect for the patient’s privacy, a nurse should always knock before entering the patient’s room (Muslim Culture, 2014). Also keep in mind, shaking the head back and forth to say “No” means “Yes” in the Middle East (Muslim Culture, 2014). Though this fact is noteworthy, it is likely that a person from the Middle East living in or visiting the United States understands the American meaning of this action. Furthermore, people from the Middle East usually dress in a more reserved fashion than Americans; long dress, long sleeves, raised neckline, and head covering. If the hospital gown provided is not to their needs, they should be permitted to wear

Many are times nurses that the efforts of nurses’ medical interventions have been rejected by the patient owing to their religious beliefs. As such this paper details out the dilemma, the nurses faces while taking care of Jehovah Witness patients and the actions they take to treat the patient without violating their rights.

In today’s society, it is very important for the healthcare professional to be educated about the culture of their patients. It can be seen that the number of patients who are Muslim are increasing throughout the healthcare system. It is challenging for healthcare workers to care for the needs of Muslim patients when they don’t understand their cultural beliefs. Muslims don’t necessarily have the same health beliefs, outcomes, or priorities that their providers have, therefore making it more difficult to come to a final healthcare decision (Al-Oraibi, 2009.) “This intercultural gap in understanding between clients and providers may result in poor care services and low levels of satisfaction” (Al-Oraibi, 2009.) Muslims are

In order to provide the highest quality of patient care, healthcare professionals need to understand that each patient is unique; their conditions, ethnicity and their culture. Culture seems to play a major role, especially when providing care to minorities. Somali women are an exception when providing culturally sensitive care. The sole purpose of this report is to understand the values and perception of Western medicine of female Somali patients and how healthcare professional can provide culturally competent care.

For health care providers to deliver the best holistic care that patients deserve, a thorough spiritual assessment must be included during their care. With more research showing a relationship between supporting a patient’s spirituality with their health and ability to cope with illness, it is now a requirement of organizations to include a spiritual assessment to maintain accreditation with The Joint Commission. The minimum required of a spiritual assessment by The Joint Commission is to determine the patient’s religion and

Different religious groups have different believe system in the provision of the healthcare. The health personnel such as doctors and nurses should be aware of the religious beliefs of their patients for effectively delivering medical care. In provision of medical care, religious faith and beliefs of the patient is incorporated with the scientific medical care in offering a holistic medical to the patients. The medical personnel should take into the consideration the religious belief of the patient in the course of offering medical care to the patient. The

cure. Hospitals not only have to meet the demands of curing illnesses, but also have to accommodate the spiritual needs and comfort of patients. Hospitals are generally built and organized in the effort to help patients gain support by having the opportunity to turn towards religion during difficult times. Hospitals in general have various religious leaders on call if a patient were to request them. They also have places of worship available to serve as a sanctuary for patients. These places are equipped with sacred texts from different religions such as the Koran, the Bhagavad Gita and the Holy Bible. As described in the article, “Sacred spaces in public places: religious and spiritual plurality in health care”, “These spaces evoked a feeling of sacredness of space and time – a sense of transcendence, immanence or connectedness in the everyday” (Reimer-Kirkham 203). This tranquil feeling can help to relieve the stress of the body, being proved to help the bodies process of healing, or in the case of terminally ill patients, helps them to develop a more positive outlook on what is happening. They are able to turn towards religion as support for the difficult time.

The United States population has been described as a “melting pot” and continues to increase in diversity. A patient’s culture has a significant influence on how their health care should be provided. It is vital for nurses as health care providers to be culturally competent and knowledgeable of the patient’s culture to deliver appropriate, holistic care (Potter & Perry, 2011). This paper will discuss the Arab culture and focus mainly on what to do and not to do as a nurse rendering care to an Arab patient.