Culture is seen everywhere. Being raised in a Chinese/Japanese culture house hold, the culture I grew up in was always different from the one I learned from school or my peers. Since I come from a diverse background, I have always had a personal interest in learning about other cultures that differ from mine. As a nursing student, we are constantly taught about cultural competency and how to treat patients based on cultural preferences. When I found out about this Cultural Anthropology course, I did not think twice about registering for it. I was not sure what Cultural Anthropology was entirely about, but I was excited to learn more about it. In the first chapter, “Anthropology and Human Diversity,” the term holistic/holism was introduced. In this course, holism is used to describe an approach that considers all the essentials such as, culture, history, language, and biology to completely understand human society. Holism is used to understand and explain how to analyze human groups through learned and shared patterns of human behavior and thoughts. As you study culture and people, you want to know each factor their culture. In my experience as a nursing student, we are taught to be culturally competent and always care for a person holistically through their body, mind, and soul. When I am treating my patients, every individual is different from another making their background and history different. Therefore, caring for them as a whole, mentally and physically, is crucial to a patient’s care. Chapter two, “Doing Cultural Anthropology,” we learned about the term ethnocentrism, which means judging other cultures from your own point of view. This is the belief that your own culture is better and greater than others. As nurses, we have to keep our own opinions and preferences away from our patient’s beliefs and opinion. Even though we do not have to understand or approve of their traditions and culture, no judgments should be made while someone in under your care. Being open-minded is critical in nursing practice. For example, my patient is a Christian and do not believe abortions are acceptable. Even though she thinks this that does not mean I have to agree with her because her opinions regarding that issue
“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
From this article I have selected two of the points the author discussed that I found most interesting. The first is the need for cultural competence and cultural safety in nursing practice. The author then defines culture as distinct from ethnicity and race and points out the importance of cultural awareness in nursing education and being aware of the significant impact of the culture of the patient on professional practice and the consequences for relations between nurses and
Cultural competence in nursing is imperative for effective patient care. A nurse must know his or her own values and beliefs as well as knowing about a patient cultural practices in relation to healthcare. Cultural competence is defined by some as: “the learned, shared and transmitted values, beliefs, norms and lifeways of a particular group that guides their thinking, decisions and actions.” Also it is noted that an important change to this definition is “the recognition of the dynamic,
Both articles express how important it is to be culturally self-aware and in touch with your personal beliefs, views, and morals. If you aren’t aware of what your cultural beliefs are you won’t be able to provide you patients with the cultural care and respect that they require in their recovery to become healthy again. In addition, the two articles (Newson 2009, Byrson 2012) both talk about how important it is to be open minded with people who may have a different opinions and views on certain things. If you aren’t open to treating you patients in the cultural way that they want to be treated, your patient will feel disrespected and unimportant. Therefore, their health will suffer because of your incompetence to accommodate their cultural needs. A nurse needs to be culturally self-aware, they need to know what their own personal views are first so they can understand that not everyone’s views will be the same. This means they need to be capable of being open and accepting to other people’s cultural wants and needs. By being these two things you will be able to provide people of all cultures with the respect and treatment they
Numerous studies have been conducted on the need of cultural competency in the profession of speech-language pathology. To ensure correct diagnosis and appropriate services by speech-language pathologist, information and training should be made readily available. This paper examines the availability of culturally and linguistically diverse assessment and intervention information and training for speech-language pathologist.
When nurses are open minded they can understand how their own cultural beliefs can influence their understanding of other’s beliefs. As described by Levi, “we need to realize that we are likely to have biases about how others should behave based on our own cultural norms,” (p. 97). By using cultural humility nurses can continue to build on what they do know about a culture and reflect on how their own beliefs effect how they interact with patients of this culture. We must take ownership of our interactions with others while being aware of how we view cultural differences. “The essential aspect is to become aware of our own values, so that we can better understand the values of another,” (Roux and Halstead, p. 324). Nurses must be able to reflect on their own beliefs to realize how they view other cultures views. They must be able to set aside their own views to be able
I understand it is essential that I become aware of my own cultural background to effectively provide the best care to my patients. A nurse cannot provide appropriate cultural care without having knowledge and a basic understanding of cultural competency.
In the profession of nursing you encounter patients from various cultural backgrounds. With the diversity of the populations in the United States nurses must become culturally competent. Nurses have to be culturally aware to be able to provide culturally competent care to their patients. Dr. Madeline Leininger created a model of Transcultural Nursing called the Sunrise Model. There is a case study that will be used for a cultural assessment to be performed with the use of the Sunrise Model. In addition, the cultures, ethnicities, and health practices will be looked at in my local community. Identification of areas that can be improved with cultural awareness in the case study. Lastly, the relevance of cultural awareness, sensitivity, and competence as a professional nurse will be discussed.
Cultural competence in nursing involves the application of skills, knowledge, personal attributes, and attitudes required by practitioners to maintain a respectful relationship with patients, co-workers, and other clients. Markedly, the essential components of competent cultural care in nursing includes cultural skill, cultural awareness, cultural encounter, cultural knowledge, and cultural desire. Cultural awareness involves an in-depth self-examination of one’s professional and cultural background whereas cultural knowledge includes gathering information of various ethnic and cultural groups. The ability of a nurse to acquire cultural data of a patient and perform a specific assessment of it is known as cultural skill. A cultural encounter is a process where nurses are involved in cross-cultural relations with patients from varying cultural backgrounds. The motivation to engage in cultural encounters and become culturally aware is referred to as cultural desire (Huber, 2009).
Culture competence is a quality that any nurse should have. The article that I decided to research refers to the impact that language and different cultures have on a patient’s health. It is the duty of health care professionals to attempt to learn about different cultures and to be sensitive to the way patient’s feel about their beliefs. Once the nurse understands a patient’s
In today's society, the role of nurses has also expanded into one more area: cultural advocacy. What this means is that nurses must not see patients as a homogeneous group of ill individuals. Rather, they must see patients as humans who each come with their own rich history and culture. Being a cultural advocate means that patients are attended to in a manner that does not trivialize their customs and their views on how their care should be delivered. Religious and ethnic customs are respected by the nurse who fosters cultural advocacy because he or she believes that these things are part of what makes up the entirety of a patient, and is therefore a crucial aspect to address in providing holistic
Cultural competence allows nurses to be able to provide the best care for their patients. Many individuals in different cultures have many differences that a nurse may not agree with or understand. It is the nurse’s job to understand a patient’s practices, cultural norms and lifestyle choices.
It is imperative to have awareness of the different cultural group in the workplace. When we are exposed to different cultures, we tend to broaden our horizon because of our exposure to different ideas and beliefs. Since I work in the healthcare field, it would be a great opportunity for me to explore the nursing culture. Nursing consists of multiple cultures, which are the culture of health, competence, excellence, safety, values, and privacy.
In nursing school, nurses are trained to value and understand individuals from many different cultures, maintaining the rights and dignity of each individual. In today’s society, nurses are responsible for interacting and caring for individuals from cultures of every kind. That being said, cultural competence in nursing is essential to providing quality care to patients. Cultural competence is “the ability to provide effective care for clients who come from different cultures”
The concept of holism is popularly discussed in relation to healthcare and healing as a theory that promotes the consideration of the patient as more than a physical or biological body with an illness, but rather a complex and unique human being. Holism promotes the idea of the person as a whole made up of parts, mainly mind, body, and spirit. When one of these parts ails, harmony cannot exist and thus the whole suffers. Some holistic philosophies tend more toward incorporating the social aspects and others the spiritual components, but the common characteristic of all holistic philosophies is the emphasis on comprehensiveness. What this concept analysis aims to achieve is to explore the different interpretations of holism and how it is