Ethnic, Religious And Cultural Practices During Pregnancy

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).

With the United States becoming increasingly diverse, healthcare professionals face a multicultural clients and it

I think it would be an understatement to say that there are many differences between the American and Hmong birthing process's. Chapter one describes in explicit detail the common process of how a baby is born into the Hmong culture. Specifically following the life of a woman named Foua. Myself being more familiar with the American way of childbirth, I found this woman's story fascinating. The process's and beliefs that the Hmong have toward childbirth are vastly different than American's. The Hmong seem to be more superstitious about the whole thing, and don't believe in modern medicine. While on the American side, we use every medical precaution, to the point that every minute of the babies development and birth is planned to a tee.

I am a Brazilian black male with military experience and diplomatic knowledge who grew up in a low-income household in a developing country. In addition, I have traveled to about 35 countries and am acquainted with people from different socioeconomic backgrounds, religions, ethnic groups and nationalities. These characteristics and experiences allow me to see the world from perspectives that are unusual for most people. Besides being open-minded and non- judgemental toward all my future patients, I personally understand the difficulties faced by people of color, immigrants and individuals from low-income families. In sum, my background and my cultural literacy will allow me to be a sensitive and culturally aware patient-centered care.

To begin with, according to “ A History of The Navajos” by Garrick and Roberta Glenn Bailey, “ The term ‘Navajo’ did not appear in the spanish records until 1626, when Fray de Zárate Salmerón noted the presence of the “Apache Indians of Nabajú,” a group occupying the Chama Valley and a portion of the San Juan Basin in northwestern New Mexico”. Furthermore, Navajo is the name of their language which is also known as “diné Bizaad” and this tribe also likes to call themselves dine or the people. An article in navajo people.org, states that “ Navajo is a language of the Apachean subgroup of the Athabaskan branch of the Na-Dené language family, along with Apache. The Athabaskan language family includes approximately 44 different

Cultural competence in health care describes the ability to provide care to patients with diverse values, beliefs and behaviors, including tailoring health care delivery to meet patients’ social, cultural and linguistic needs. The need for healthcare systems to increase cultural competence and personalize care for ethnic patient minorities should not be ignored. Healthcare systems should promote better understanding and communication between diverse ethnic patients and caregivers. Hospitals should design a system that caters to the needs of all the populations they serve and not just apply a one-size-fits-all approach. Becoming a culturally competent health care organization is a critical component in reducing health care disparities.

The most valuable assets of our world are our mothers. The mother means soil. Mothers carry us in their womb for nine months and give their life. Mother, who carries the child in her belly, gives birth like soil, and raises the child in her breast.  Thanks to her, our roots go deep, and our branches go the top. In Native Americans, the tribes are separated from the Northeast, Southeast, and Southwest.  In some tribes, married couples lived near the wife's family and the mother was considered the head of the family. Linage was passed down through the women, and women were seen as equal partners to the men (Native American cultures: Family life, kinship, and gender, 1996b, para. 4). An example of the mother being a strong figure is in the story of the Corn Mother. There was a family that did not have food to eat. The mother decided to sacrifice herself by dragging her body over the fields and burying her bones there. Every year after that, corn and tobacco grew due to her sacrifice and love (The sun and the Moon: Myths from around the world, 2017). In any case, it is still far less demanding for American-Indian women to discover a role to accommodate their families and set up a profession stepping stool than it is for American-Indian

Department of Health,” 2011). The United States is composed of many different groups of people and diverse cultures. It is unfortunate that even today someone’s culture or race is a factor in determining the health care they receive and the quality of the care they receive (“Eliminating

America is melting pot; there are an enormous variety of cultures and ethnicities represented in our general population. This population diversity is also reflected in healthcare participants. With the diverse amount of backgrounds, there also becomes a need for transcultural health care and acknowledging that not every culture views

Cultural competency is becoming essential in American healthcare with the increasing and diversification of immigration. The Department of Homeland Security, 2014 statistics indicates over 750,000 immigrants received naturalization in the US. These naturalized citizens represent over 20 countries varying from Hispanic, Indian, Asian, African, and Middle Eastern cultures. A change in the way American healthcare treats these cultures is necessitated to provide efficient care and achieve positive outcomes. Douglas et al. (2014) guidelines are to empower patients to help diminish the inequities of their own healthcare. The guidelines for culturally competent care are meant to guide the nurse, nurse educators, and nurse managers in their competent treatment of persons of other cultures. These guidelines mandate a nurse use education, self-assessment and reflection, and diversification of the workforce to meet the demands. The ten guidelines are knowledge of culture, education and training in culturally competent care, critical reflection, cross-cultural communication, culturally competent practice, cultural competence in health care systems and organizations, patient advocacy and empowerment, multicultural workforce, cross-cultural leadership, and evidence-based practice and research.

In this great nation we live in today that has been vastly increasing diversity bring so many great opportunities. But with these great opportunities there are also challenges that are continually looked over constantly. One of the challenges is our health care system that fails to deliver culturally competent services. Cultural competency helps to enable providers to deliver services that are respectful to diverse patients. This helps with patients own health beliefs, practices and cultural and linguistic needs. This is why this training is needed in every health facility. Many doctors go through this problem not understanding their patient’s needs. If I were a doctor I would use this skill. Certain racial and ethnic minorities receive poorer

The Navajo (or Dine), which means “The People” are located on the Navajo reservation, spanning more than 27,000 miles, at the four corners of Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico. The 2010 Census Brief reports

Navajo Indian Tribe Are Native Americans from the Southwestern United States. They are one of the largest tribes of American Indians in the world. They lived in the Southwest areas that are today known as New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado. Their "Navajo" came from the Spanish who called them the Apaches of Navajo. They called themselves "Dine" or "the People". I chose to write about the Navajo Indians Tribes because I would like to learn more about them.

Miscommunication, medication errors, and lack of compliance commonly occur in the healthcare field. These are just a few of the errors that occur due to the patient being from a different culture than the physician or healthcare worker. Those three errors alone have a huge impact on our healthcare today. If we could have a better understanding of other cultures that are different from our own we could have a dramatic decrease in errors and a great increase in healthcare participation. Training must be completed and must be done in more than one way. The first step is to make sure that all physicians and health care workers get the same nationwide training that focuses on improving cultural competence. How this is completed must be done in more than one way (Horwitz, 2001).

Starting in the 1400s, the Native American tribe called the Dineh occupied the territories of now Arizona and New Mexico. In their language, Dineh means “the people”, in which they call their homeland Dinetah. They got the name Navajo from the Spanish so that they wouldn 't get confused with the Apache tribe, for they looked very much alike. The Navajo had a unique lifestyle and focused on art, religion, and farming. They had many conflicts with their neighbors and especially the United States Army. When they were relocated to different parts of the South, they had the integrity and unification to presume their traditions, especially their art and religion.