Importance Of Cultural Diversity In Nursing

“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

The nursing profession has a long history of assessing and placing patient needs first when giving care. The tenets of nursing practice include meeting those needs using individualized care by collaborating with the patient, family, and health care team members. (American Nurses Association, 2010). The concept of transcultural nursing aligns with these tenets because it calls on nurses to provide patient-centered care by taking into account the patient’s background, beliefs, culture and values. In this paper, I will identify the factors that made it necessary to develop the transcultural nursing theory, describe the meaning of diversity and its relationship to the field of nursing, and explain three ways that I provide culturally sensitive care to my patients.

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

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

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.

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).

Understanding different cultures and backgrounds is an essential part of nursing. This country continues to grow and combine people from just about anywhere you could possibly think of and even some places that you would not think of. In the healthcare field emphasis is placed on being culturally competent for this reason. Being able to understand a patient’s ideas and beliefs and the patient to understand those of the United States will only help to improve the health of patients.

To successfully achieve this goal, a nurse must be willing to adapt his or her care to appropriately fit the values of the patients they are caring for. This can sometimes be a difficult goal to achieve, especially if the patients cultural differences cause conflict with what the health care provider feels is the most appropriate medical care. The first step in providing culturally competent care requires a nurse to make an unbiased examination of their own background, culture, and potential personal stereotyping. The second step is gathering

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

A nurse who does not understand the value and importance of culturally appropriate care will face a lot of hardships. For example, a care intervention for African American client with diabetes are uniquely different from an Italian or Vietnamese American. Based on a qualitative study in 2013, it indicated that multicultural education is indeed effective in raising the level of cultural awareness in nursing students. In fact, it is recommended that there is a continuous effort to integrate multicultural education in nursing programs to help prepare nursing students for their future nursing roles. (Eun-Hee, 2013)

Cultural differences occur in a lot of situations in the nursing practice. In order to give the best care, I must apply the five constructs toward cultural competence. These five constructs include: awareness, knowledge, encounters, skills, and desire. In order to develop cultural competence, I must be aware that individuals just like myself have their own beliefs, values and practices of their own culture. During a cultural encounter, I must be aware that not only is the patient’s culture present but as well as my own, and as well as the culture of our environment. Similar to an Ombudsman, I must be aware of my patients cultural needs and preferences in order to advocate for my patients. In order to be aware of patient’s cultures, I must

Cultural diversity is one of the topics that have a great effect on nursing profession. The nursing and the patient population are made of people from diverse cultures and ethnicities. Even though cultural diversity might facilitate tolerance, it may cause some conflicts between different beliefs and habits. It is easier for people who come from different ethnicity to have the openness and recognition of different cultures because they came from different background too. My personal experience, being from a dissimilar culture may cause some stress in the work environment, but it has helped me to look at my patient population and coworkers in a broader spectrum. These differences may cause some challenges for the nurses in order to cooperate

A nurse can develops cultural knowledge by educating herself or himself about the world view of other cultures and ethnic groups (Creasia & Parker, 2007) about diseases and health conditions, and variations in drug metabolism (Lee, et al, 2006). Some of the ways a nurse can acquire knowledge by reading about different cultures, attending continuing education courses on cultural competence, and attending cultural diversity conferences (Lee, et al, 2006). In clinical setting, a nurse should ask patients how they wish to be addressed. Never make assumptions about individuals or their beliefs. Try to ask questions about cultural practices in a thoughtful manner. Always find out what the client knows about health problems and treatments. In addition, show respect for the client’s support group, for example family, friends, religious leaders, etc.Understand how men and women fit in the client’s society. In some cultures, the oldest male is the decision-maker for the family, even for treatment decisions. If we know who the decision makers are in the family, we can work more efficiently with them to get the better outcomes. This will take time; eventually, nurses will possess a comprehensive knowledge in different cultures, if these are accomplished (Hagman, 2007).

Cultural diversity in nursing was about how to work with patient from different backgrounds and cultures. In the article, it showed different scenarios on how cultural diversity is using in nursing practice. Also, went over how cultural diversity improve nursing care. I will use this article to help give a better understanding of what is cultural diversity nursing care.

Today?s society is a global community. More and more people are immigrating to different countries including the United States. As a result, nurses must become competent in providing care to numerous cultures. Nurses must strive to become competent in understanding the values, beliefs, and health care expectations of the communities and cultures they are serving. Dr. Leininger?s Theory of Culture Care Diversity and Universality has given nursing a framework and a model that continue to guide