Health care professionals need to be culturally aware and competent in order to give the best care possible. The American Association of College of Nursing defines cultural competencies as “the attitudes, knowledge, and skills necessary for providing quality care to diverse populations” (California Endowment, 2003). In order for nurses to have the capability to provide this type of care, they must have the understanding of their own personal cultural awareness and capability. After performing a self-assessment and analysis, I was able to determine my own knowledge, attitude and biases related to cultural awareness and competency in order to provide culturally competent nursing care to patients. Personal biases must be put aside while attaining cultural competence.
After completing the multicultural awareness self-assessment tool, I have become more aware of the knowledge and skills that I need to focus on to be culturally competent. According to the attached self-assessment, I have a grade point average of 1.55 for multicultural awareness, knowledge and skill. This is not a very high grade point average. There are parts of this assessment that I excelled in and vise verse parts that I am now aware that I need to improve on. I definitely feel as thou I would provide an excellent answer to questions related to my own cultural. As a kid, I was taught a lot about my Irish heritage and have very strong beliefs. I have also grown up in very diverse population and been around
The increasing population of immigrants in the United States has contributed to health disparities in the health care system. Cultural competence can remove health disparities by eliminating personal biases, and treating every person with respect. Simply recognizing and accepting different cultures is not enough, one must be able to consistently recognize and understand the differences in order to be culturally competent. Knowledge and culturally competent practices are a must for nurses to deliver quality care in our rapidly changing multicultural world (Edelman, 2014 p. 25).
“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
Cultural competence is the ability to interact well with people of different cultural backgrounds (Rundle, 2002). It provides the best ways of meeting the needs of diverse patient population which is always on the increase, as well as ways of effectively advocating for them. This means that cultural competence has the benefit of enabling nurses to deliver services that respect and effectively respond to health beliefs and practice needs of diverse patients. Through the process of globalization, nurses are moving to places of nursing shortage to offer their knowledge and skills beyond their home
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,
The term culture is defined as “the thoughts, communications, actions, customs, beliefs, values, and institutions of racial, ethnic, religious, or social groups” (Potter & Perry, 2013). With the increase of culturally diverse populations in the United States, it is important for nurses to practice cultural competence. Cultural competence is the ability to acquire specific behaviors, skills, attitudes, and policies in a system that permits “effective work in a cross-cultural setting” (OMH, 2013). Being culturally competent is essential because nurses who acknowledges and respects a patient’s health beliefs and practices are more likely to have positive health outcomes (OMH, 2012). Every culture has certain views and attitudes concerning
Cultural competence can be defined as using the ability of one’s awareness, attitude, knowledge and skill to effectively interact with a patient’s many cultural differences. Madeline Leininger, a pioneer on transcultural nursing describes it this way; “a formal area of study and practice focused on comparative human-care differences and similarities of the beliefs, values and patterned lifeways of cultures to provide culturally congruent, meaningful, and beneficial health care to people” (Barker, 2009, p. 498). The importance of cultural diversity in healthcare allows for the delivery of appropriate cultural autonomy. Showing respect for others will lead to trust between nurse and
In order to deliver nursing care to different cultures, nurses are expected to understand and provide culturally competent health care to diverse individuals. Culturally competent care is tailored to the specific needs of each client, while incorporating the individual’s beliefs and values (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2006, p. 90). By being culturally competent, nurses are able to help improve health outcomes by using cultural knowledge and specific skills in selecting interventions that are specific to each client (Stanhope & Lancaster). Therefore, nurses “should perform a cultural assessment on every client with whom they interact with” (Stanhope &
Adapting to different cultural beliefs and practices requires flexibility and a respect for others view points. Cultural competence means to really listen to the patient, to find out and learn about the patient's beliefs of health and illness. To provide culturally appropriate care we need to know and to understand culturally influenced health behaviors. However, becoming culturally competent is a much more daunting task. Culture (and ethnicity) often influences a patient’s perceptions of health and illness. Therefore, if healthcare providers appear insensitive to cultural diversity, their actions may negatively affect the quality of the healthcare that they provide.
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).
With the large increase multicultural population in the United States, nurses encounter patients with differences in healthcare beliefs, values and customs. To provide adequate nursing care, nurses must be aware of these differences. They must respect and acknowledge the patient’s culture. To do this, nurses need education on cultural competence to ensure patient satisfaction and better patient outcomes.
Cultural competence in nursing can provide a platform for nursing to understand a patient's culture and background. When a nurse takes the time to learn about a given culture
Nursing is a dynamic field that is frequently evolving with the changing demographics of the world we live in today. It is important for nurses to have the ability to provide culturally competent care with every patient encounter. Providing culturally competent care is not possible unless the nurse has an understanding of the ethnic background (Flowers, 2014).
After taking the cultural competence self-test assessment from the intercultural engagement resource, I feel that I am more culturally competent than most but I still have more learning to do. This assessment helped me realize my place on the trajectory to being cultural competent. I am a strong believer that people are more receptive to their own culture, so I try to adapt to other cultures by learning things about it. I never intentionally try to impose my values on anyone that may be inconsistent with their culture. By taking care of patients from different cultures, it opened my eyes and made me realize medical attention and health education varies amongst different cultures. After taking the survey I also learned to be a culturally competent nurse, I must not show any bias to my own culture. The assessment helped me examine my own biases and prejudices toward my own cultures and others. This assessment also helped me identify areas in which I need to improve to provide quality services to diverse
After completing the “cultural competence checklist: personal reflection designed by T.D. Goode” for the first time, I was not surprised by my results. The results were a reflection of my personal understanding how culture impacts holistic care and my continuous need to improve my care. I have strived to become non-judgmental. I work to not let my personal beliefs and values influence my nursing care on decisions. When I practice this philosophy it provides better patient outcomes and promotes an improved understanding of cultural differences. This also enhances a safe and caring environment. “It is important for health care providers to recognize that care must be individualized and considerate of the cultural. Racial, and ethnic identity of the patients and their families” (Broome, 2006, p. 486) .There is much diversity in the beliefs and practices of the Indian culture and we should grant these individuals complete freedom to practice their personal cultural variations and the religion they choose.
The United States is known for its diversity. As a nurse working in such a culturally dynamic country, it is extremely important to be culturally competent in order to provide optimal care. Culturally competent care is defined as “nursing that is sensitive to issues related to culture: religion, race, gender, and sexual orientation.” (Euro med.) In order to deliver such care a nurse must have the knowledge of, be aware of and understand the importance of a patient’s cultural background and how this cultural background affects the care the nurse may give. It is an ongoing process and must be studied continuously.