Culturally Congruent 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

As a nurse strive to provide culturally sensitive care, they must recognize how their client's and their perceptions are similiar as well as different. Nurse enhance their ability to provide client-centered care by reflecting on how their beliefs and values impact the nurse-patient relationship. To provide appropriate patient care, the nurse must understand her/his culture and that of the nurse profession. Cultural biases can be particularly difficult to identify when the nurse and client are of a similar cultural backgroup. When we recognize and know a culture, we will know what is right for our patient, and thus may impose our own values on the client by assuming our values are their values. Recognizing differences a

The nursing profession is known for being a caring and compassionate career path that is loving and accepting of all individuals. The traits of many of us are based on our cultural background and therefore it is important to be culturally aware of different traditions and preferences pertaining to cultures that we directly interact with. Both taking into consideration the patient’s culture and recognizing the impact of one’s own personal beliefs are competencies that a nurse should demonstrate and are listed under the first standard of practice according to the American Nurses Association (ANA, 2015).

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

Cultural sensitivity and awareness is a very important aspect of modern healthcare. It works well if staff members are aware of another cultural viewpoint and able to integrate it while providing care (Burkhardt & Nathaniel, 2014). Nursing staff, in particular, spend more time with patients than any other provider in the health care system. Therefore, they should pay close attention when attending to patients born in different countries, raised in in different cultures or patients whose views are distinctly different from the caregiver’s perspective.

I realize the importance for nurses and other healthcare professionals be educated on the different global cultures, as America is a global melting pot. Smith and Parker (2015) state the culture care theory “desires to discover unknown or little-known knowledge about cultures and their core values, beliefs, and needs” (p. 304). Within this theory fifteen orientational definitions have been defined. These definitions allow the nurse to break down the patient and nurse interaction regarding each person’s cultural differences, diversities, environment, worldview, and social structure. However, a disconnect often occurs between the professional (etic) and generic (emic) care definition. The professional care definition takes what we learned throughout our years of education to improve a patient’s health. The generic care definition uses the patient’s indigenous, traditional, and local folk knowledge to provide adequate assistance and support for healing. With the appropriate combination of the orientational definitions, patient’s will receive optimal

From the beginning of time, great emphasis has been placed on a need for care due to illness and disease. In the past, medical knowledge in nursing guided and provided the greatest direction for practice. It was not until the 1960’s when Dr. Madeleine Leininger felt there was a need of shift from biomedicine toward integrating culturally sensitive care within the profession of nursing. The goal of the theory has been to “use research findings to provide culture-specific care that would be culturally congruent, safe, and beneficial to people of diverse or similar cultures for their health, wellbeing, and healing, and to help face disability and death (McFarland, & Wehbe-Alamah, 2015, p. 6).” Utilizing the seven chosen criteria listed in Willis (2002, pp.119-122) “Overview of Grand Nursing Theories,” including the contemporary social, political, and economic realities, I will be describing and analyzing Madeleine M. Leininger’s Theory of Culture Care Diversity and Universality. I will also discuss how Leininger’s theory guides my personal practice, potential barriers that may arise while using this theory, and strategies to facilitate the use of the theory.

Leininger’s culture care theory described that culture is essential in competent nursing care. Leininger experienced what she describes as a culture shock and witnessed behavioral patterns that appeared to have a cultural basis. Leininger identified a lack of cultural and care knowledge as the missing link to nursing understanding of the many variations required in outpatient care to support compliance, healing, and wellness (Alligood & Tomey, 2010, p. 455).

Culture is very important to the role of a nurse. Today, nurses operate in a cultural diverse environment. The current health care setting incorporates both patients and professionals with a diverse cultural background and social level. Health in all cultures is an important aspect of life. Cultural background, religion or beliefs, greatly influences a person’s health and their response to medical care. In most cases these diverse cultures guide decisions made in daily life; medications taken and medical advice listened to. As a nurse, I will demonstrate this characteristic by being knowledgeable and respectful of the diverse cultures and subcultures when providing care. The understanding will help me to build a strong nurse to patient relationship, uphold autonomy and ensures positive outcomes are met, which increase patient compliance (ANA, 2009). Therefore, as a professional nurse I will pay attention and understand the cultural needs of the patients under my care. I will pay attention to cultural and individual peculiarities of each patient in order to provide them with health care services of the high quality.

According to Leininger “Culture and care together are predicted to be powerful theoretical constructs essential to human health, wellbeing, and survival” (Leininger, 2008, p. 2). Unlike other theories Leininger’s theory of Transcultural Nursing has three action modalities and several constructs that are necessary to create cultural competent nursing care.

Transcultural nursing plays an increasingly important role in health care today. The constantly growing multicultural population in the world has made it challenging for nurses to provided individualized patient care. Nurses must gain the knowledge, skills, and the ability to identify and understand the unique cultural differences and how it affects patient care. Research has shown that culturally sensitive nursing care encourages patient satisfaction and positive outcomes. Nurses today are using the Culture Care Theory, developed by nursing theorist Madeleine Leininger, worldwide to provide culturally sensitive patient care.

The United States is a country in which many cultures integrated into the mainstream and produced different ethno cultural groups. This has created concerns within the healthcare field on how to deliver the most respected and sensitive care to all cultures. It is a huge task for nurses along with other healthcare professionals to learn about multiple cultures. The only way a nurse can provide culturally competent care is to understand that each individual has a right to his or her cultural beliefs, values, and practices. The healthcare professional must then incorporate the illness in relation to the patients culture. This is the point at which each individual will receive a culturally responsive treatment plan and care necessary for respectful care.

Patients come from many diverse backgrounds, cultures, and religions. It is important that nurses advocate for our patients. Providing culturally sensitive care, can give our patients better outcomes, and reduce health disparities (Oregon Center for Nursing, n.d.). In this paper, I will discuss an ethical issue with a patient who has a culture other than my own. I will examine our different perceptions on the issue, as well as our conflicting values and beliefs. Last, I will discuss the meaning, as well as ways to provide culturally congruent care.

To begin, we must assess our own culture; our own values, beliefs, and ways of interpreting and responding to different situations and stimuli. Only with knowledge of whom and what we believe in, can we have a foundation to base all of our cultural care from, in regards to others. Nursing exposes us to many traditions, values, and ways of thinking that differ from our own. By owning a clear understanding of who we are and our point of view, we can be accepting, respectful, and empathize with our patients from their perspective, and, hopefully, appreciate the difference.

Often without being aware of it, individuals can rely on preconceived ideas about others based on how that other person appears or acts. Sometimes these stereotypes and resulting discrimination can extend into other areas of life, such as receiving or delivering health care. Healthcare practices and regard for healthcare employees vary across the different cultures. Patients differ due to various aspects. These differences constitute of patient illness, personality, socioeconomic class or education, however the most endless variation is cultural. Race, religion, language, education, ethnicity and economic status are the essence of culture that has a significant influence on an individual 's health and wellbeing. Skills are crucial for ensuring that nursing care is culturally congruent; knowledge of cultures is important for facilitating communication with people. Nurses must use effective, culturally competent, communication with patients that takes into consideration the individual’s verbal and nonverbal language, cultural values, background and unique healthcare needs and views.