New Mexico Midwifery Practice Case Study

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).

“Americans can take come pride in the fact that attaining what the medical profession calls “cultural competency” is a goal of most health care institutions. However, achieving this goal in today’s health care environment, filled with diverse patient and provider populations, is no easy task. American hospitals are increasingly being staffed by and serving diverse populations. This creates the ideal breeding ground for conflict and misunderstanding among the staff and inferior patient care” (Galanti, 2011). To gain a more thorough understanding of this concept, I will be giving four examples or viewpoints that are completely different, when looking at the Hispanic belief against the Native American point of view.

In rural Iowa, there are few individuals who are knowledgeable of the Hispanic culture due to the small number of Hispanic individuals that have sought out care in the past. Recently, there has been an influx the number of Hispanic Americans seeking care in this area, making the delivery of culturally sensitive communication and care an important topic. According to DeNisco & Barker (2016), the nature of nursing care encompasses the need to be aware of cultural diversity (p. 581). Meaning that nurses need to strive for cultural competence to reach the societies expectations in the delivery of nursing care (DeNisco & Barker, 2016). We are going to take a look at how nurses can make a few changes that will make providing culturally competent care to the Hispanic population easier in these settings.

In 1988 Giger and Davidhizar created their Transcultural Assessment Model (TAM) to facilitate “…the discovery of culturally sensitive facts… (and) provide culturally appropriate and competent care.” (Giger & Davidhizar, 2002) The TAM was developed for an undergraduate nursing curriculum to train students to assess and provide care for patients that are culturally diverse. This paper will employ the six cultural phenomena defined by TAM to assist in identifying cultural attributes of Mexican Americans that should be considered by nurses in assessment and care.

This means recognizing each woman’s social, emotional, physical, spiritual and cultural needs. It also acknowledge that a woman and her newborn baby does not exist independently of the woman’s social and emotional environment. This includes incorporating an understanding in assessment and provision of health care (Yanti et al., 2015). The fundamental principles of women-centred care ensures a focus on pregnancy and childbirth as the start of family life, not just as isolated clinical episodes. These motherhood phases take into complete account the meaning and the values of each woman. Providing women centred care helps women make an informed choices, being involved in and having control over their own care, this also includes their relationship with their midwives (Johnson et al., 2003). This demonstrates that midwives are able to attend for women during pregnancy, childbirth and in early parenting years. In addition to this, midwives also provide education for women in order to have a healthy lifestyle (Woods et al.,

In this discussion, a Hispanic or Latino group is considered. While the statistic is not available for the city of Cleveland, in Ohio this group represents a 3.7% of the total population as of July 1, 2016 (USCB, 2018). The Hispanic/Latino group represents people from Cuba, Latin America, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Caribbean and other Spanish cultures, regardless of race (Juckett, 2013). While a treatment plan in hospitals is the same for all the patients, the perception varies in different ethnic groups or races. Thus, a health care provider need to be aware of Hispanic/Latino cultural beliefs and implement this knowledge into a daily routine.

This essay demonstrates significant factors, a midwife and the women may face within Australian public hospitals. As a midwife the key skills are understanding of what supports and impacts the normal physiological process of labour and birth. This essay will discuss two influencing factors that have a negative effect on the normal progress of labour and birth. This will be seen, firstly by discussing the cultural and environmental impacts of labour and birth. Then, examining how the midwife may best support and facilitate the adverse effects of normal physiological process. This essay also discusses a positive labour and birth environment within the Australian standard model of care.

Application of the Transcultural Analysis to an American Indian culture is accomplished through known cultural beliefs and practices. However, it is important to note that while each culture may have defining characteristics, family and individual practices may vary. To be an effective provider implementation must be tailored to individual needs. Starting with cultural awareness and building a care plan fit for the individual is ideal in the healthcare setting.

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 &

Statistics show that the Columbus, Ohio metro area is becoming more diverse. Even though the majority of the population is made up of Whites, that percentage is decreasing while the percentage of Blacks, Latinos and Asians is increasing (Diversity Data, 2012). I work in an outpatient unit that serves a diverse patient population, and Leininger’s concepts of transcultural nursing highlight the importance of learning about the cultural influences that affect the health and wellness of ethnic populations (Andrews & Boyle, 2016). Transcultural nursing addresses cultural influences such as values, beliefs, and behavior and examines how they affect health and wellness. In this paper, I will discuss perceptions of health and illness in the Hispanic community, examine the overarching issue presented in a video that I reviewed, discuss what can be done to overcome the issue in the video, and share a barrier that I experience in my nursing practice and how I overcome the barrier.

The health care system in the U.S. is used less than its full capacity by Hispanic women, especially after recent migration to the U.S. Among recent immigrants, protective factors such as traditions, health values and behaviors are shown to guard and strengthen health. Safeguards to health deteriorate sharply as they acculturate to U.S. society ((Sanchez-Birkhead, 2010).

I have always been interested in women’s health and after taking a course at Cal called Evolutionary Medicine I was introduced to what a Doula was. Since then I have been interested in the work that doulas do as I believe that providing support and care for pregnant women is pivotal for both the baby and mother’s health. My goal is to learn how to help support a mother by gaining the necessary clinical skills. I also wish to exercise my ability to speak Spanish and am particularly eager to be able to work with Latina women. I am excited to be a part of a team and to be in an environment that allows me to really learn about female prenatal/postnatal care and everything in between. I realize that the work will be challenging but I am excited

I chose this article because I find it interesting and of great help to any nursing and health care professional; I am Hispanic myself and constantly looking for better ways to help my community. I personally see my grandmother struggling whenever she needs to see her physician, as she sometimes does not understand what him and his staff are telling her. On another note nursing is an ever changing career and the Hispanic culture is growing at an enormous rate, becoming culturally competent does not only provide the patient with good care but can make the nurses’ job easier and more rewarding. I do feel that there should be more research on this subject; the best way to learn about a patient’s cultural beliefs is to ask the patient. I think that the population that the author intended to target is health care professionals; however, I know that any immigrant can benefit from reading this article.

This is the beginning of the mother’s involvement with the midwife. This is an opportunity for both parties to establish a personal relationship, partnership. This is where education exchange can occur, recognition of responsibilities, options and choices are determined which are supported and discussed with the mother and her supporters. (Pairman, 2010, pg. 431-432)

Two years ago, I was introduced to midwifery when my brother and his girlfriend were considering options for the impending birth of my nephew. Since that time, everything I’ve pursued and studied has helped bring me a step closer to becoming a midwife myself. I find pregnancy, childbirth, and babies to be the most fascinating things in the world. I spend heaps of time independently researching different aspects of childbirth. Last year, I wrote a research paper on the differences between home births and hospital births, and I’m currently working on a podcast about home births and the role midwives play. There's so much knowledge out there that I was oblivious to; once I figured out that pregnancy, birth, and even postpartum care need not be