Culturally Competent Nursing Care

“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

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

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

Nurses have the responsibility of caring for a diverse group of people. These people come from different cultures, races, and religious backgrounds. Religion plays a major role in patient care and has for many years. Cultural competency is a major component of nursing practices. Understanding culture is imperative in knowing what is important to a patient and how to address his or her healthcare needs. Understanding culture is also important when determining what suggestions to make about interventions for treatment. Culture is defined as many people interacting and sharing with one another their patterns of behavior, beliefs and values (Burkhardt, G. & Nathaniel, A., 2014).

With there being such a plethora of cultures in the world, there are so many different beliefs and practices involving health and wellness, that almost everyone has a different definition of health, and different views on disease and illness in general. My definition of health involves many different aspects, but most importantly living a healthy lifestyle overall; being free from illness, and doing everything possible to stay that way. Eating a well-balanced diet, exercising regularly, and getting plenty of sleep along with protecting your

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

It is important the nurse consider specific cultural factors impacting on individual clients and recognize that intra cultural variation means that each client must be assessed for individual cultural differences. Knowledge of cultural diversity is vital at all levels of nursing practice. Ethnocentric approaches to nursing practice are ineffective in meeting health and nursing needs of diverse cultural groups of clients. Knowledge about cultures and their impact on interactions with health care is essential for nurses, whether they are practicing in a clinical setting, education, research or administration. Nurses bring their personal cultural heritage as well as the cultural and philosophical views of their education into the professional setting. Therefore, it is important for the nurse to understand that nurse patient encounters include the interaction of three cultural systems such as the culture of the nurse, the culture of the client and the culture of the setting.

I sincerely could relate to the issue on culturally sensitive care among nursing practices. When my father was hospitalized for three months from one hospital to another, I could say that it is important for nurses to be sensitive enough with the patient and its family. We experience both the harsh way of a nursing practice and an ideal nurse per se. My father was once admitted in a public hospital available in our province where my siblings find difficult to approach the nurses. My father was 70 years old and suffered pneumonia. When they approached the nurses to add ventilation in his room, the nurse drastically replied that air-condition can only be used at night and my family must settle to what is given by the hospital. My sister was even

Cultural sensitivity is an attitude and a way of behaving in which you are aware and acknowledge cultural differences( In the nursing field it is crucial to have effective interpersonal communication. If there is no cultural sensitivity, then there can be no effective interpersonal communication between people who are from a different culture. On the unit there has been some incidents where some co-workers have not shown therapeutic communication to patients from other cultures. As a team we need to demonstrate cultural sensitivity to all our patients no matter the race, gender, religion, or beliefs. We need to be mindful of our patients and the cultural differences between the patient and us.

In the United States, nurses are faced with a uniquely diverse population of patients seeking medical care. In order to provide a consistent standard of care among all clients, it is imperative that nursing staff becomes knowledgeable of varying rituals and beliefs among the cultural demographics they are presented with. Globalization has led to an increase in travel accessibility, and as the ethnic population grows, so does the need to know how to care for them. Becoming culturally competent goes beyond having a translator available, and should include understanding of social customs and norms, meal preferences, health beliefs, hygiene practices, family dynamics, and end of life rituals. Awareness of specific risk factors among different groups also needs to be considered so appropriate patient education and interventions can be applied. During the orientation phase of the nurse-client relationship, the nurse should gather as much data as possible regarding the clients cultural and spiritual expectations so he or she can plan their care accordingly. Clients are more

The purpose of this study is to provide cultural diversity knowledge to RNs caring for patients and to emphasize that the lack of understanding culture diversity, delivery of culturally competent care may result in poor patients’ outcomes. The theoretical framework for this project is noted in the theory of Transcultural Nursing founded by Leininger, which explains cultural diversity and cultural competence. Sagar (2012) reported that Leininger acknowledged the benefits of understanding a patient’s culture and caring knowledge in the improvement of the quality of care. The application of this choice of theory centers on understanding patients’ culture and then incorporating the patient’s cultural content into their plan of care (Easterby & et al 2012). Nurses, along with being an observant of patients, must be knowledgeable about a person’s culture and diverse factors influencing the whole person. Knowing the whole person strengthens the commitment bond between nurse-patient relationship (Green & et al, 2015). The three action modes in Transcultural Nursing Theory for providing culturally, holistic health during a patient’s well-being, illness and dying phase, according to Leininger (2006a, p. 8) are “preservation/maintenance;accommodation/negotiation; and repattering/ restructuring”. The rationale for providing cultural diversity education to nurses is to empower them with knowledge so that they can better serve, provide quality care and help patients

As nurses we encounter people every day from a variety of cultures, in healthcare our understanding of each patient’s cultural values will help guide us in providing care that is individualized and respectful while at the same time providing evidence based care that is safe for our patients. To provide culturally competent care to patients nurses must be aware of their own culture before they can be aware of others cultures, each culture views health, wellness, illness and healthcare workers in a different light (Edelman, Kudzma, & Mandle, 2014, Chapter 2).

It is important, however, that a well-intentioned desire to achieve cultural competence does not result in oversimplification and stereotyping. There is variation within cultural groups and uniqueness to individual experiences that must also be considered. Nurses must aspire to respect differences in culture and treat patients in a manner that instills trust. The American Nurses Association developed a set of standards of practice for culturally competent nursing to ensure that all patients’ specific needs are addressed, as well as ensuring equity in the workplace

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).

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)