Cultural Competence And Health Promotion, Disease Prevention And Other Healthcare Interventions

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).

“Health is influenced by culture and beliefs” (NRS-429V, 2011, p. 1). In order for the nurse to properly care for the patient, she must know and understand the patient’s culture. “Cultural care is a comprehensive model that includes the assessment of a client’s cultural needs, beliefs, and health care practices” (NRS-429V, 2011, p. 1). It is not enough to just know where the patient lives or where he came from. The nurse must embrace the concept of cultural competence and cultural awareness. This requires not only the awareness of the cultural beliefs and values of their patients, but also

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

In order to deliver nursing care to different cultures, nurses are expected to understand and provide culturally competent health care to diverse individuals. Culturally competent care is tailored to the specific needs of each client, while incorporating the individual’s beliefs and values (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2006, p. 90). By being culturally competent, nurses are able to help improve health outcomes by using cultural knowledge and specific skills in selecting interventions that are specific to each client (Stanhope & Lancaster). Therefore, nurses “should perform a cultural assessment on every client with whom they interact with” (Stanhope &

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.

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

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,

Level II Cultural Competence Exploration Currently, it is important for nurses to be able to interact with individuals from all areas of the globe. Travel makes it easier for individuals from distinct cultures to experience and immerse themselves in vast areas of the world, which can create challenges for these individuals when it comes to seeking medical treatment outside their home country. For nurses to provide adequate patient centered care, they must understand the basic components of the patient’s culture, thus creating the surge in national requirements for cultural competence in healthcare organizations. The most effective way for one to understand another culture is to first understand their own culture. Cultural Assessment Cultural

As the population of the United States continues to become more diverse, healthcare providers should effectively communicate with each patient regardless of their culture, nationality, religion or socioeconomic status. Nurses and other providers should be delivering patient centered care that is culturally competent. “Culture also includes the integrated pattern of thoughts, communications, actions, customs, beliefs, values, and institutions associated, wholly or partially, with racial, ethnic, or linguistic groups, as well as with religious, spiritual, biological, geographical, or sociological characteristics” (Lamb, 2014, p. 132). Nurses are caring for a culturally diverse population, so considering the role of culture, language, and

Over the years the United States has become more culturally diverse (Haynes, 2016). As a result, it is estimated that one-third of the United States population is minorities, which the number of minorities is estimated to increase to 54% by 2050 (Haynes, 2016). Therefore, the increase in cultures can lead to or increase the health care disparities. Consequently, it is essential that health care organizations improve its cultural competency. Overall, the increased diversity in the population and the documented health care disparities have made cultural competency essential in order, to ensure that every patient receives quality health care services (Haynes, 2016). The purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of culture on health care.

Patients come from many different multicultural groups which means they do not look like, talk like, feel like, and respond like the nurses who are providing them with care. Helping nurses to become culturally sensitive to their patient’s diversity may be beneficial in producing positive patients’ outcomes. There is a strong connection between nurses being knowledgeable about a person’s culture and their ability to provide quality, competent patient care (Vogel, 2016). Nurses must come to understand the real lived experience of the patients that they are taking care of. Knowledge about cultural diversity within the health care field is essential for registered nurses in caring for patients. A culturally competent nurse must develop cultural sensitivity. Each patient must be assessed individually; no cultural assumptions should be made about a patient's beliefs or health practices. Nurses are faced with a challenge to provide individualized and holistic care for an ever increasing

As nurses, we operate in culturally diverse environments and interact with a variety of differing cultures. Multiculturalism is steadily increasing and cultural caring is imperative to provide holistic care to all clients. Cultural competence is a set of congruent behaviours, attitudes, and policies that enable effective respect, caring and communication in cross-cultural situations (Parker, 2010). Cultural competency is essential because nurses who respect and acknowledge a patient’s cultural health beliefs and practices are more likely to influence the health of individuals. Culturally competent nurses need to respect and accept differences in beliefs, lifestyle, and values in order to establish a trusting, therapeutic relationship with the individuals they are working with (Parker, 2010).

Healthcare systems and healthcare providers need to respond to patients’ diverse perspec-tives, values, and behaviors about health and well-being, as the United States becomes a more eth-nically and racially diverse nation. Failure to understand and manage social and cultural differences may have significant health consequences for minority groups in particular. As health care provid-ers, we can easily recognize the physical problems a person has, but sometimes we overlook the whole or holistic individual, which includes the persons cultural element.

Cultural competence is critical in nursing care. Today’s healthcare providers must adapt patient care to be in consistent and compatible with the patient’s culture and values. Nurses can enlarge and advance their knowledge of culture through many sources. There are many sources that nurses can turn to for education and general information: articles, internet resources, seminars and books. (Flowers, 2004)

Healthcare systems and healthcare providers need to respond to patients’ diverse perspec-tives, values, and behaviors about health and well-being, as the United States becomes more ethni-cally and racially diverse nation. Failure to understand and manage social and cultural differences may have significant health consequences for minority groups in particular. As healthcare provid-ers, we can easily recognize the physical problems a person has, but sometimes we overlook the whole or holistic individual, which includes cultural element.