Cultural Diversity : An Understanding Of Multiple Cultures

Teaching and learning methodologies, principals, styles or approaches are perhaps the most challenging for nurses. Not only are nurses diverse in culture, sex, age, socioeconomic and religion, we are also part of a discipline that is diverse in practice. It is necessary to acknowledge our own beliefs, biases as it relates to other culture groups so that we don’t unintentionally create barriers to learning.

            The world has become ethnically diverse owing to the increase in global mobility of the general population. Nevertheless, the nursing principles regarding the care of patients advocate for the development of cultural competence. While working with students from other programs, I realized the need for hospitals and health care agencies to accommodate the special needs of the culturally diverse populations. This is especially because we all as a team act as advocates for the

The concept of diversity is one that individuals may not think of when they think of nursing. Diversity is a major component to nursing and the care that is provided to patients. In this concept analysis, antecedent, attributes and consequences of diversity are identified. The following antecedents are: race, social economy, knowledge, gender, and education level. The attributes of diversity are individual, variety, perception, difference and civilization. The consequences of diversity are as follows; acceptance, decision making, cultural competency qualifications, respect, degrading, trusts

Some people may not consider Cultural Diversity as a necessity for their careers or daily life, but it’s crucial to be able to identify and implement cultural competence and understanding. As a nurse, the need for Cultural competence is almost to be used as second nature. Being able to be empathetic and understanding is one of the several qualities in working in a health care field. Sometimes personalities, cultural and moral differences could effect the nurse’s care for the patient. Diversity is defined as the state of having people who are different races or who have different cultures in a group or organization (Merriam-Webster, 2014).

Ethnically diversity nursing work force has positive outcome in nursing profession. Because of this the hospital need to provide opportunity to teach their nursing staff to acquire knowledge and skills on handing diversity. Nurses also need to be update themselves in order to deliver diversity nursing care. Ethnically diverse nursing care will give opportunity to obtain equal and qualitative treatment for the

Cultural diversity plays an extremely vital role in nursing education and research and in the workforce. Culture can be defined as characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people, defined by everything from language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music and arts. As a nurse, understanding that not all patients are the same and that they can express different cultures shows that the nurses have an understanding and compassion of the patients’ differences. Cultural diversity in nursing promotes the best quality care and the most efficient care for a patient—which encourages satisfaction and emotional wellbeing. Nurses in the United States are caring for a progressively more diverse population. In 2008, ethnic and racial minority groups accounted for about one third of the United States population (Ayoola, 2013). As a nurse, nursing educator, or nursing student understanding and learning about other cultures is one of the fundamentals in terms of the best possible care for a patient—which is essentially the primary focus. This paper will discuss the main points of why having and understanding diversity in nursing is such a key factor in ensuring quality care. It will also discuss some of the complications that nurses can come across when dealing with cultural diversity.

For a successful profession, cultural competence should be put into consideration to create an environment that favors better communication. Since migration of people across the globe has increased, it has resulted to a population that is ethnically diverse. Nurses must therefore interact with a diversified community, hence the need to learn about their culture. When involved in a work team, the following disciplines should be considered: valuing diversity, having the ability to asses and scrutinize culture, to be aware of differences that emerge when different culture interact, ability to adapt the means of service delivery with culture diversity in mind, as well as institutionalizing the knowledge of

Generally, according to Hunt (2010), in a culturally diverse workforce, diversity education and training is important as it can provide individuals the opportunity to create an atmosphere in which people can work together who are fundamentally different successfully. It can also create an environment of respect and anticipation of eliminating past prejudices and stereotypes while opening up avenues of spiritual enlightenment (Hunt, 2010). Diversity education and training is also an essential tool for organisations because it provides their staff with the skills needed to step-out of their comfort zones (Bednarz et. al, 2010). Furthermore, Bennett and Keating (2009) added that diversity training and education is equally important for nurses in giving nursing care for patients with diverse backgrounds. This will give nurses flexibility to cater to their needs in ensuring that the patients were able to get the medical attention they require and to encourage them seeking medical treatment in the future (Bennett and Keating, 2009). According to Bhopal (2009), one of the reasons why ethnic minority groups fails to seek medical treatment is because they feel that healthcare professionals do not understand their cultural needs or they fear that these professionals will make negative judgment about their beliefs (Bhopal 2009).

Diversity is a wide range of interests, backgrounds, and experiences that can be measured across many variables including; age, race, sex, economics, religion, personal background, geography, etc. Each individual have unique characteristics which set them apart from another person. Nursing brings about opportunities to share, learn, and grow from the experiences of others. Therefore, it is important to explore and be aware of the various social, cultural, and religious differences amongst patients in our communities.

Developing awareness of cultural diversity can help an individual accept the practices and beliefs of another cultural group other than their own. As a health care professional learning about different cultures, can help assist with providing culturally competent care. Before working with a patient from a different ethnicity, you should familiarize yourself with the different beliefs, practices, and rituals derived from their cultural. “Organizations and individuals who understand their clients’ cultural values, beliefs, and practices are in a better position to be coparticipants with their clients in providing culturally acceptable care” (Purnell & Paulanka, 2008, p. 2). After interviewing my co-worker Mrs. C.D., whom is from Haitian decent, I was able to obtain a clear understanding of her cultural common practices and belief. I will discuss Mrs. C.D. cultural background, communication patterns, family roles and organization of Haitian culture. I will also provide details on her cultural lifestyle and workforce issue, high risk behaviors within the Haitian cultural and their meaning of food, pregnancy and childbearing practices, and death rituals. Finally I will describe the spirituality of the Haitian culture and how as health care professional are able to care for a patient from this descent and collaborating with other health care practitioners to achieve the goal of providing cultural competent care. Learning and familiarizing yourself with

A nurse who does not understand the value and importance of culturally appropriate care will face a lot of hardships. For example, a care intervention for African American client with diabetes are uniquely different from an Italian or Vietnamese American. Based on a qualitative study in 2013, it indicated that multicultural education is indeed effective in raising the level of cultural awareness in nursing students. In fact, it is recommended that there is a continuous effort to integrate multicultural education in nursing programs to help prepare nursing students for their future nursing roles. (Eun-Hee, 2013)

A current issue in the nursing profession is the diversity within the workforce. For this purpose, the term diversity includes age, race, and gender. Two centuries ago, American nurses were predominantly white, women, and retired in their sixties. Currently, people of all races, ages, and gender work in the nursing profession. However, America’s diverse population should correspond to a diverse nursing profession, but it is not.

Advocacy for minority ethnic populations plays an important role promoting equality and social justice when pertaining to cultural diversity. Advocacy empowers the health care provider to takes into consideration a person’s cultural background than integrate and facilitate culturally applicable amenities that will help improve an individual’s outcome. Throughout this paper I will discuss an ethical dilemma that I have encountered during my nursing practice, explain how the individuals involved perceived the dilemma, identify the conflicting values and beliefs from each party and discuss the lack of my understanding of the patients cultural. Furthermore, in this paper I will also define culturally

Diversity is treating everyone fairly and respecting cultures, sex, religion, race and views. Diversity is also about recognizing the differences and embracing the differences,also recognizes values . Equality is everyone being equal, treated fairly, having the same rights and opportunities despite their race, gender, religion or beliefs, sexual orientation and

In my opinion, some of the barriers throughout our nursing profession in regards to diversity is that we continue to ask the same question in yearly mandatory meetings and have the same conversations year after year about what diversity means to us, making it an issue rather than an advancement. We are not growing from our encounters or experiences with this word, instead we limited its definition of differences and made it an issue regarding a person’s color or gender which is profoundly dysfunctional in my opinion. We still run away from this word instead of embracing it. Diversity is a mighty and a beautiful word that means thinking differently, our differences and because we have made this word complicated with a negative meaning, diversity