Time of the Chinese Culture
The Chinese culture is very past-oriented with some aspects of present-oriented as well. The Chinese culture values their past, it is reflected in all aspects of life, such as much of the city's ancient buildings and respect for old men (Shi 2011). The dying patient of Chinese descent will spend a lot of time reminiscing on past mistakes, honor, and dead loved ones. This is also a time where they will feel a sense of being reunited with their past ancestors as well accepting their fate
The Chinese culture also regards the present moment, especially being on time, as important. Being on time is important informal occasion, but if you can, the earlier the better, it is viewed as a kind of respect (Shi 2011). Being late and inadequate time management is a form of disrespect amongst the Chinese culture.
Social organization of the Chinese Culture
Chinese patients will typically have family members at the bedside, day and night, taking care of them. The custom in both China and Japan is for the family to take care of the patient’s personal needs and the medical staff is there to practice medicine (Galanti, 2008). When a member of a Chinese family becomes ill, the family will rally around the patient to ensure they’re being cared for and loved. The family system in the Chinese culture is seen as one big moving part, where no individual is greater or more important than the other.
Environmental Control of the Chinese Culture
The topic of death within
Five points of area that affect nursing care when taking care of a Chinese patient, are the cultural beliefs with medical treatments, who and when to discuss the prognosis and medical treatment to, dietary beliefs, pregnancies beliefs, and death and dying.
“ All our civilization is based on invention; before invention, men lived on fruits and nuts and pine cone and slept in caves “ - Reginald Fessenden. All major civilizations have a significant influence on mankind and the different inventions the civilizations produced. Although, it is evident that the Chinese Civilization has the greatest impact on the development of man out of all of the civilizations due to the innovation of gunpowder, and the discovery of the silk road.
Asian cultures have a very strong family bond and this is very important to them and often surpasses that of an individual. The older family members are rarely questioned and therefore they are often the decision makers and will decide for themselves after being made to go to a hospital that they do not want treatment and all health care providers must respect this decision and be culturally competent in handling the situation. One must not make a patient or family feel bad due to their cultural decisions. We must look at our own beliefs as nurses in order to know what our beliefs are in order to understand those of our patients.
Family involvement provides a support system for the patient as well. Similarly, in the Asian culture, family is often strongly involved in the healthcare of a family member. This may be out of love and concern for the individual but it also is enforced by the cultural norm and social pressure (Park, Chesla, Rehm & Chun 2011, p. 2377). With any culture, including Asian Americans, family support may have positive or negative outcomes. Park et al (2011) then states that “Asian American families provided emotional support, strengthened the patient’s sense of belonging and purpose, and provided material support, such as housing and financial assistance” (p. 2377). By having these added support systems, a patient can focus on their health and recovery without having to worry about financial burdens. The elderly are valued with the highest regard in the Asian culture but when an elderly family member becomes ill, the family dynamic and hierarchy is threatened. This can cause added stress for the family, tension among members and may delay the patient’s health and recovery. In some cases, the family members in the Asian culture may become overly involved in the patient’s care completely taking away the patients independence. However, in the healthcare system in the United States, maintaining
The Chinese have a wonderful culture filled with beauty, strength, skill, and putting their family and society over their own wants. Sometimes it may be hard to understand why this culture or any other ethnic group pick choices that are different from ours but as future health care workers, an understanding of cultural beliefs does improve the relationship between worker and patient. For example, the concept of respect for authority or those older than you is one that all follow even if they are only American-born Chinese. When treating a sick Chinese elder, health care workers need to consider the possibility of a patient not informing the family of personal illness or an objection to put their elders in long-term cares. Healthcare workers may have to at times converse with only the males in the family because traditionally, the decision makers in a Chinese family are usually the males and the woman must go to them before choosing any type of medical treatment. Lastly, a Chinese patient may usually nod their head in agreement and, to a healthcare professional in the U.S, this means that they are receiving the information we are communicating to them. But what the patient is really doing is being polite and agreeing to what you are saying yet not retaining the information at all. Thus a doctor may need to address this issue a few days after the visit in order to not scare the patient away but instead encourage questions and make sure the information about their health
1 in 6 adults residing in what was once among the most literate nations in the world have been deemed “functionally illiterate”. During the 1800s, over 90% of the former nations population could speak our native tongue. Currently, only about 0.2% of our population is fluent in the indigenous language. Welcome to Hawaiʻi!
Some believe illness comes from Satan and not living according to God’s will. The Chinese culture puts little emphasis on individual feelings and a lot of emphasis on family devotion and loyalty. A like with the Hispanic culture, when making decisions about health care the whole family is usually involved. Religion and traditions are very important in the Chinese culture. They will usually follow in their ancestors footsteps.
At the same time, being on time may influence substantially interpersonal relations and it is a perfect characteristic of an individual. In this respect it should be said that if a person is late, it is a bit irritating, but if he/she is late regularly, than it is quite a disturbing fact. On the one hand, it proves that this person do not really respect those people who are waiting for him/her. On the other hand, it proves that this person is absolutely irresponsible because being late means that the person is unable to do his/her duties well. In contrast, being on time proves that the person is highly responsible and is ready to fulfill his/her duty without delay.
In China they have about 1.3 billion people, making up a little more than 20% of the world’s population. It’s no surprise that with that many people in one country that the culture there would hold many different beliefs and traditions. Chinese are known for many things and their health care practices are one of them. They use different medicines to treat the ill, have different techniques to insure that women have a good pregnancy and a healthy baby as well as old family traditions from how a family is ran to what they do when someone passes away. A lot of these traditions can compare to other cultures where many are also so different it takes some understanding to get used to them.
China’s culture saw some drastic changes during the 19th and 20th centuries, from the influx of new influences from the West to the more culturally sterile regime of Mao Zedong. In the early 20th century, Shanghai was a top cultural center in the East, and its achievements, although almost lost due to decades of conflict and political struggle, were preserved and built upon in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Following the social reforms, post-Mao China was ripe for reintroduction of culture, and Taiwan’s close proximity and similar origins helped smooth the transition and pave the way for China’s return from the cultural dark ages.
In the profession of nursing, an essential aspect is the ability for a nurse to provide culturally competent care to each one of his/her patients. This requires the nurse to understand how a person’s culture can affect the way they care for them. The focus of this paper will be on a model put together to assist nurses in providing care to culturally diverse patients, specifically caring for patients a part of the Chinese culture in the children and family transition of life. The summary and application of the six phenomena in the relation to the Chinese culture followed by the nursing implications of those cultural variances are described below.
The ancient Chinese civilisation developed four of the most important technologies used in modern times;
Chinese culture is truly one of the great civilization our world has come across. It boasts a vast geographic expanse, over 4000 years of written history, as well as a rich and profound traditional society. Many aspects of Chinese civilization can be traced back many centuries. It is so diverse and unique, yet harmoniously blended, and presents itself a priceless benefit to the world.
The geographical area of China is more than 9 million square kilometers and as a result, it is the fourth largest country in the world. There are several ethnic groups in China, the Han Chinese is the largest group, and it is found in almost all parts of the country. Other minority groups include Tibetan, Zhuang, Korean, and Mongol. The Chinese society is high context and non-verbal. The Chinese people acquire the knowledge of what they are supposed to do and say even if they are not told through conversation. Voice and facial expressions play a critical role in determining the feelings in a person. They do not have facial expressions when in a conversation. Direct eye contact is avoided because it is viewed as a symbol of disrespect (Clair & Norris, 2011).
China has about five thousand years history which is a very long period of time. Also, the Chinese civilization was growing with these periods of time and it will continues greater than ever. Many wars and unhappinesses were happening during this period. Although, the time has passed, the histories and the civilizations have not passed. These family virtues, serious, working attitudes, sense of justice and the great Confucian tradition have been deeply assimilated into the Chinese people. Some Chinese traditions are different from North American’s. The Chinese culture has many special characteristics which are very interesting for people to learn.