Cultural Case Study Scenarios

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

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.

An increase in knowledge regarding gender-related issues has led to necessary changes needed within healthcare systems. Providers are now expected to understand and deliver care that meets the specific needs of these patients, regardless of age or gender identification. This new change in culture can be extended to community care settings as well as hospitals. If a healthcare provider does not respect the values and beliefs of patients from different cultures, claims of discrimination can be made. This has the potential to result in legal action taken against the provider (Andrews & Boyle,

Cultural diversity in the medical field is, at times, greatly hindered because of religious beliefs, language barriers, and the hierarchies of diverse cultures and these have the propensity to affect the continuity of care for the patients. “Every person has different aspects that constitute their identities, according to how they see themselves….This means that seeing an individual in terms of

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

Amaniz has experience healthcare from both sides of the spectrum. Since she had lived in the United States and in Syria, she was able to compare and contrast healthcare and cultural. She described how different her father's viewpoint on healthcare was different from her mother's viewpoint. When asked how people of different cultures want to receive healthcare, she responded, "I believe that no matter what culture you are from, you

Accordingly, the Islamic religion shapes various aspects of Somali culture. When it comes to the definition what health or illness means, doctors and their immigrant patients do not see things the same way. To understand the Somali philosophy of health and illness, it is crucial to look at Somalis’ culture and religious practices that influence people’s daily lives. Most newcomers define health and illness as two conditions that are beyond their control. For example, the new immigrants cling to the general concept that human beings were created for a test, and part of their test is to be tested by God with the ailment and suffering. Illness is regarded as a test of how strongly a person in God. That is why most Somalis feel they are predestined to get good health and bad health before they were even born. When it comes to taking preventative method, patients’ access and response to health care services could be less. Somali communities often categorize pain into two sections: body and soul. Most patients seek medication and emergency when they suffer physical pain. Disease that afflicts with one’s soul is hardly ever discussed. The society feels shameful and stigma to ask for help when one of their family members has a mental illness.

An example of this is Mrs. H’s story; when Mrs. H was transferred from Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust to a care home she arrived bruised, soaked in urine, dishevelled and wearing someone else’s clothes. (Independent, 2014) This could lead to the patient not getting the correct treatments; not being cared for the correct way would increase the rate of illness/disease which could result to a death of the patient due to the illness not being treated and progressing. This could be overcome by the GP surgery if guidelines are set out in the surgery to ensure that each individual will not be treated differently no matter their age, gender, sexuality or race. Also the GP surgery should train their doctors, nurse and other staff to treat all patients with respect, care and meet the needs of the patients. If overcome this could create a positive care environment because the patients will feel that they are being treated with the utmost care and respect and so increase the patients Confidence in confidentiality systems and also the trust between the patient and the GP

In order to mediate situations like these, legislation is put into place by the CCHRA’s National Code of Conduct and The Canadian Human Rights Commission (Canadian Council of Human Resources Association, 2004). The CCHRA’s laws regarding dignity and balance in the workplace stand out most to us in this situation, as well as The Canadian Human Rights Commission’s legislation about religion and disability (Canadian Human Rights Commission, 2006). These laws, together with the idea of duty to accommodate, make clear the prohibited grounds on which a person cannot be discriminated, apparent with Panjabi and

In the Journal of Transcultural Nursing, it talks about the disparities in health care to the Arabic population. It is a qualitative study to try and comprehend nurse’s knowledge when caring for this patient population. One’s beliefs, behaviors, and attitudes toward health and illness are radically influenced by religion and cultural background. This population is at a higher risk for several diseases and faces many barriers to accessing the American health care system. Some barriers, such as modesty, gender preference in healthcare providers, and illness causation misconceptions, arise out of their cultural beliefs and practices (Odeh Yosef, 2008). We need to know these religious and cultural factors to deliver culturally competent health care as in the near future, Islam is expected to be the second largest religion in the United

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.

Twenty years later, what seemed like a lifetime of dedication and hard work, I found myself in a hospital ward. Books and lectures were a thing of the past, and now wearing a long white coat, I was introducing myself as a stranger who was going to try her best to heal another human being. In one of the state-of-the art hospitals in Pakistan, I worked day and night as an internal medicine resident. The high patient volume and diversity of cases allowed me to quickly develop autonomy. While faced with limited resources, learning how to rely on my clinical expertise, all the time respecting the patient’s cultural and religious belief systems was one of the most tedious but cherished experiences. Working together with the housestaff not only helped me manage my patients, but also instilled in me the importance of team work.

Thus, It will also be very important that I, to the best of my abilities and operating still within the scope of law, observe my patients cultural and religious beliefs, specifically their birthing rituals and beliefs toward men and women’s relationship. For example, for many cultures in the world it is inappropriate for any other man other than a woman’s husband to see her genitals and thus it will be important that I have staff members that are women who can provide services when such cultural factors prevent me from delivering care to my patients.

Important beliefs and norms that might impact communications with a healthcare provider for Muslim patients include: Respecting modesty and privacy (especially the female Muslim patient), limit eye contact.

DEPARTMENT OF NURSING EDUCATION TEACHING PLAN STUDENT NAME: Carla Sanchez PROFESSOR’S NAME: John Tote PATIENT’S INITIALS: A.D. MEDICAL DIAGNOSIS: Severe Coronary Artery Disease ASSESSMENT LEARNING NEEDS Patient is a 74 y/o male who is post op Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (x 5) surgery. Mr. D and his wife are of Lebanese descent. I was present during the removal of this patient’s chest tube, and there was difficulty with him following directions as far as taking 3 deep breaths and holding the last one, during which the tube would be pulled out. Several variations of the same instruction were given to Mr. D by the Nurse Practitioner, the RN, and even myself, but Mr. D just couldn’t grasp the concept. I believe this was indeed due to a language barrier. Mr. D did speak English, but it came with a heavy Arabic accent. For Mr. D, I would ensure that he would receive all patient education needs in Arabic. At this time, the focus would be on Incentive Spirometry use and its importance. MOTIVATION TO LEARN SOCIAL-CULTURAL INFLUENCES Arab Americans tend to prefer same sex healthcare providers (especially females), and typically regard nurses as helpers, not professionals in the field. If a devout Muslim, they perform Salah, which is a 5 time a day prayer ritual (Ahmad, 2009). This patient did not cite any religious/cultural preferences pertaining to his health care, nor was there anything noted in his chart. Patient was open and receptive to all engaged in his care, which was