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Essay on Culturally Competent Nursing for the Egyptian Patient

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Culturally Competent Nursing for the Egyptian Patient Jessica Wagnon South University Online Caring for a Multicultural Society | NSG3016 S02 Week 5, Assignment 2 Gina Drake April 16, 2016 Culturally Competent Nursing for the Egyptian Patient 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, …show more content…

As I said, this tends to have a positive affects because of the patients willingness to cooperate with treatment given by their physician. One thing that could impede healthcare in an Egyptian client is their potential unwillingness of diet change. While Egyptians value the treatments given by their physicians, “they tend to be skeptical of treatments such as weight reduction, exercise, and diet restrictions.” (Purnell 171). Egyptian Americans can tend to have diets high in fat and eat less fresh fruits and vegetables related to the ease of access to processed foods in America. Some may drink tea with an abundance of sugar, but might be open to changing the habit based on teaching them about diabetes and caloric intake. Another thing that could be an issue among Egyptian patients could be their cultural response to pain. From the time I started nursing school I was taught that pain is subjective. People experience and respond to pain in different ways and this can certainly be influenced by their culture. As the nurse we have to learn to cope with our feelings towards this issue and treat the patient, not the symptoms. Egyptians in particular try to avoid pain by seeking interventions as soon as possible. They can be both verbal and nonverbal about their pain, but they tend to be more reserved in front of healthcare professionals as opposed to their families.” These conflicting behaviors are confusing to health-care professionals

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