Choosing This Experience
Growing up in the lower valley on the Eastern side of Washington State, there is a melting pot of cultures. A misconception about the eastern side of Washington is said to not having a multitude of cultures but from working with the public, I have fortunately had the opportunity to work with many different cultures. I grew up in Toppenish, Washington which is 7-minute drive from where my cultural experience took place. In the fall, there are fewer events that take place around the valley and I have been to many events for other cultures. The culture in which I thought I would love to learn more about is the Filipino culture. I have many Filipino acquaintances that are regulars at my place of work I was invited to go to the 64th Annual Filipino Harvest Dinner on October 23, 2016 in Wapato, Washington. I was very excited for this opportunity to learn more about the Filipino culture and apply what I have learned into nursing practice. Many times, we forget about all of the different cultures around us and by taking a step back and learning about different cultures our spectrum of patient population care be expanded.
Learning Experiences from the Filipino Culture When I first arrived at the Filipino Hall, I was really nervous to go in. I have my own fear of going into new places so I took this opportunity to embrace my fear and I also knew I was going to meet some friends inside. When I went into the hall, it was decorated beautifully with bright
“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
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
As a Filipino-American nurse living in Los Angeles, California, this writer has been a witness and an active participant in the multifactorial influences/aspects that affect the Filipino-Americans, in health and illness. Being a grandmother of wonderful grandkids has brought me further exposure to the plight of elderly Filipino-Americans in the United States of America.
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 &
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.
The United States is a diverse accumulation of cultural backgrounds which can often set the stage for feelings of confusion, anger, mistrust, and a host of other emotions when dissimilar cultures disagree. Cultural competence in nursing can help eliminate these barriers and provide a platform for nursing to follow in the quest to understand a patient's culture and background. When a nurse takes the time to learn about a given culture prior to providing care, it conveys she respects the patient's right to their beliefs, customs, and culture. It does not necessarily mean the nurse agrees with their practices but
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
To begin, I learned so much about the Hmong culture, I feel embarrassed how little I knew about them, and what they went through; I have so much more appreciation for them. Coming from a future nurse, I am well aware of the topic “culturally competent”. However, after reading this book I realized how important it actually is to be aware, knowledgeable, and sensitive to those of different cultures. The patient and the patient’s family should be center of the care, with the health care providers having assessed he patient’s needs and wishes. I strong feel that everyone entering the health care field should be formally trained on what it actually means to be culturally competent. If the I health care providers in this book would have been more
Filipino culture is a mix of east and western perspectives and is heavily rooted in Christianity. The diversity of its people coupled with their ability to adapt and tolerate new ideas has created a fusion of traditional and modern. Filipinos pride themselves in their Sociability, religious belief, and Family oriented lifestyle.
Nowadays, nurses not only need to know how to care of their patients, but they also must be able to care of patients from other cultures with many beliefs and values. Cultural views of individual influence the patient’s perception and decision of health and health care (Creasia & Parker, 2007). In order to care for people across different languages and cultures, nurses need to develop cultural sensitivity, knowledge, and skills.
Today when people move across continents with the help of technology their culture and heritage moves along with them. Almost each and every continent is populated with people from different nations who have diverse traditions and cultures. Thus knowledge of health traditions and culture plays a vital role in nursing. People from different cultures have a unique view on health and illness. Culture-specific care is a vital skill to the modern nurse, as the United States continues to consist of many immigrants who have become assimilated into one culture. I interviewed three families of different cultures: - Indian (my culture), Hispanic and Chinese. Let us see the differences in health traditions between these cultures.
As a future nurse, you want to try and reduce the amount of stress the patient has to improve healing time. Yes, you may not be able to completely control patient’s stress; but making the patient’s environment familiar by using their culture could help reduce the stressful situation of being sick in the hospital. I met all my goals by attending this event. I went to this event with a few of my classmates, and we sat with three women that we did not know. We learned that they were from Germany, Thailand, and the United States. These women happened to work at one of the clinical sites that a few of us go to. Therefore, I met people from different cultures then myself. I also was able to meet my goal of learning about a healthcare system from a different culture. The Greenlandic health care system is limited; with only one hospital on the island not a lot of people receive healthcare. The woman the presented on this particular topic was a Pediatrician, and discussed the amount these people received health care. She mentioned that there are only two Pediatricians on the island and two times a year will travel to other cities in Greenland to check up on the citizens. Coming from a country of unlimited access to health care this was upsetting. I met my last goal of trying different food, by eating pickled radishes, authentically prepared fish, and a dessert similar
Before I choose a topic about Filipino culture I orginally desired to learn about life at an inner city school by observing it with my own eyes or the policies of catholic high schools on homosexual students. However, time and material forced my hand so I interviewed my best friend on his moms native culture of the Philippines. This interview was conducted last week on the first floor of the steely library. So my orginal thoughts of the Philippines I'll be honest weren't much. It was a nation that I didn't know had achived indpendacy from the united states over 50 years ago. I honestly thought we still held it as a territory. Until this interview I never thought about the Philippines up until this interview so forming any context of the island or culture was rather diffcult outside of its basic geography. Prior to this interview I associsated this island nation with nothing. From a cultural standpoint I knew nothing of what it held a belived it to be a largely indpendent nation in culture similar to the way of the rest of the pacific islands. When I thought of the Philippines I could not help but picturing a simply rainer version of african with people of different decent. The picture was a nation with no econmy, no infrastrucutre, and loose collection of mud
Food is an essential form of socialization in the Filipino culture and social gatherings do not take place without food. “Food and meal patterns emphasize generosity, hospitality, and thoughtfulness, which support group cohesiveness.” Pg. 239. Extending an invite to a gathering or even sharing one’s food is considered a sign of good upbringing and can be used to show appreciation and caring, to welcome others, celebrate accomplishments, and even be used to offer support in times of crisis. Their foods consist of influence from Spanish, Chinese, and American cuisine and are usually sautéed or fried and rice is served with every meal. The rice is typically steamed but can also be fried and eaten in a desert form. Due to intolerance for dairy products, only babies or young children consume milk. Food is not just used for social gatherings but also for medicinal benefits, such as colds, upset stomach, urinary tract infections, sore throats, and aids in promoting digestion.