Cultural Challenges in Nursing

Care and culture are the key constructs that make up the Culture Care Theory. This theory differed from other nurses’ work or mindset because nurse leaders relied heavily up on the four metaparadigm concepts of person, environment, health, and nursing to explain nursing (McFarland and Wehbe-Alamah, 2015). Leininger realized that those four metaparadigm concepts were to limited in its scope regarding nursing and culture and care ideologies. Interestingly, care and culture were excluded from the metaparadigm. “It is not logical to use nursing to explain nursing” (McFarland and Wehbe-Alamah, 2015). That is definitely a contradiction in terms and represents scholarly research

The nursing profession has a long history of assessing and placing patient needs first when giving care. The tenets of nursing practice include meeting those needs using individualized care by collaborating with the patient, family, and health care team members. (American Nurses Association, 2010). The concept of transcultural nursing aligns with these tenets because it calls on nurses to provide patient-centered care by taking into account the patient’s background, beliefs, culture and values. In this paper, I will identify the factors that made it necessary to develop the transcultural nursing theory, describe the meaning of diversity and its relationship to the field of nursing, and explain three ways that I provide culturally sensitive care to my patients.

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 term culture is defined as “the thoughts, communications, actions, customs, beliefs, values, and institutions of racial, ethnic, religious, or social groups” (Potter & Perry, 2013). With the increase of culturally diverse populations in the United States, it is important for nurses to practice cultural competence. Cultural competence is the ability to acquire specific behaviors, skills, attitudes, and policies in a system that permits “effective work in a cross-cultural setting” (OMH, 2013). Being culturally competent is essential because nurses who acknowledges and respects a patient’s health beliefs and practices are more likely to have positive health outcomes (OMH, 2012). Every culture has certain views and attitudes concerning

Cultural competence is defined as possessing the skills and knowledge necessary to appreciate, respect, and work with individuals from different cultures. It is a concept that requires self-awareness, awareness and understanding of cultural differences, and the ability to adapt to clinical skills and practices as needed

With the large increase multicultural population in the United States, nurses encounter patients with differences in healthcare beliefs, values and customs. To provide adequate nursing care, nurses must be aware of these differences. They must respect and acknowledge the patient’s culture. To do this, nurses need education on cultural competence to ensure patient satisfaction and better patient outcomes.

The United States is a diverse accumulation of cultural backgrounds which can often set the stage for feelings of confusion, anger, mistrust, and a host of other emotions when dissimilar cultures disagree. Cultural competence in nursing can help eliminate these barriers and provide a platform for nursing to follow in the quest to understand a patient's culture and background. When a nurse takes the time to learn about a given culture prior to providing care, it conveys she respects the patient's right to their beliefs, customs, and culture. It does not necessarily mean the nurse agrees with their practices but

I consider myself to be a fairly traditional American white woman, with non-denominational Christian beliefs. My ethnicity is sort of a mixture of Irish, German, Native American and a few others, but my main cultural background is traditional American. I do not put a lot of emphasis on my ethnicity, because in my opinion and the opinion of many others as well, Caucasian American can be race and ethnicity. I celebrate traditional American holidays such as Christmas, Independence Day and Thanksgiving. I do eat traditional American foods, but I also love ethnic foods of all kinds. According to McKinney, James, Murray, Nelson and Ashwill (2013), “Belief in Jesus Christ as the son of God and the Messiah comprises the central core of Christianity” and “Study of biblical scripture; practicing faith, good works, and sacramental rites (e.g., baptism, communion, and others); and prayer are common among most Christian faiths” (p.44). I am non-denominational; however, I do believe this statement sums up the main core of my beliefs. I pray, I have been baptized, I believe in good deeds, and attending church. The only difference is that I do not believe that you must attend church or partake in communion to have a relationship with God; I believe that relationship is rather personal. Now in terms of American culture in the healthcare setting, Euromed Info Online indicates that Western industrialized societies such as the United States, which

Culture is a multifaceted characters of a diverse sets of people that have a common ground on values, languages, emotions and identity. It is a symbolic communication perpetuated in a much larger society that influence by means of conditioning and imitation from one generation to the next. Knowledge of cultural diversity is crucial at all levels of nursing practice. It require nurses to be challenge on a multilevel amplitude of social character and commitment. It is empirical that the nurse consider specific cultural factors impacting on each individual patients and be able to recognize its differences. The impact of cultural diversity on each patient start with the nurse as a co-provider and influence on the perceptions, interpretations and behaviors of a particular specific cultural group. Nurses need to understand the validity of how culture minded patients understand life process, health, illness, death, and dying. Through collaboration and scientific evidence of multicultural society can bring about a culturally-relevant and responsive services.

I was born and raised in the Philippines. I identify myself with the Filipino culture. I chose to learn about the Mexican culture, so I have interviewed my coworker. The interview was focused on the meaning of food in their culture and its impact on their health.

From the PowerPoint, Culturally Congruent Nursing Care Application to Family and Health, I learned what culture is and that it is a process. The number of immigrants in the United States is increasing and by 2050, it is predicted that they will make up over half the population. I also learned current immigration trends in Minnesota (Schoon, 2016). A trend I found to be interesting, “14% of immigrants hold an advanced degree, compared to 11% of US-born born adults” (Schoon, 2016, slide 9). When I say, culture is a process I mean that it is something you can learn (enculturation), acquire (acculturation), give up one and take a different (assimilation), or take two or more (biculturalism) (Schoon, 2016). Culture shapes family life by influencing

The population of the United States is continually rising. The birth rate continues to rise, but more importantly, the number of foreign-born immigrants that relocated to the United States in 2003 was a staggering 33.5 million, and that number rises every year (Jarvis, 2008). With such a large immigrant population comes the need for medical professionals that are culturally competent. Being culturally competent means that the caregivers, “understand and attend to the total context of the individual’s situation, including awareness of immigration status, stress factors, other social factors, and cultural similarities and differences” (Jarvis, 2008, p.38). Because the United States is so diverse, it is a federal

In the world the are many kind of cultures and for the United States of America that means a mix of such cultures in the big cities. Nursing wise this means that when caring for a patient, a nurse has a great possibility the patient will not share same culture. At times, this is not the easiest task for a nurse. Maybe the nurse is trying the best but a cultural misunderstanding can uncomfortable for the patient and the nurse. The Culturally Competent Nursing Care is use to seal some gaps left by the cultural differences. This consist of an electronic learning program that helps the nurse with cultural and linguistically issues between the nurse and the patient (Ozkara San, 2015). I live in Miami and to me this program is an excellent idea because

My southern heritage has directly influenced the person I am today. I grew up in South Louisiana and I have lived there all 25 years of my life. My childhood was not easy, but I think those tough situations prepared me for life, and taught me the value of family. I attended a private, Christian school and I am so appreciative of my parent’s sacrifices that allowed me to receive that education. I would describe myself as a kind, hardworking individual who respects, cares for, and values others. I believe these attributes are a genuine reflection of my upbringing. My Christian faith is what motivates me each day and it is also what has inspired me to help others through a career in nursing.

In the first scenario, the nurse was going to listen to the patient's lung sounds and she moved her hair to the side and saw numerous red circular marks on her back. The nurse immediately freaked out and started saying things like "oh my god, what are these marks on your back?", "Are you being abused?", and "I'm a mandatory reporter" (DiversityNursing, 2011). She did not give the patient a chance to speak up and explain the situation. Instead, the nurse stormed out of the room before the patient could talk. This type of cultural incompetence did not enable ethically sound nursing care. The second time around in the video, the nurse started off by asking the patient how she would like to be referred to. When the nurse saw her back and the marks