Nursing : Cultural Competence And Patient-Centeredness

“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 Culture Care Theory was selected because it is important for nurses to embrace, understand, and have an open-mind when it comes to assessing patients, understanding their cultural backgrounds, and creating treatment plans that will promote health amongst the patients. Being biased, judgmental, and narrow-minded are not indicative of the Culture Care Theory. Implementing the Culture Care Theory within the Master’s

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

Cultural competence is defined as possessing the skills and knowledge necessary to appreciate, respect, and work with individuals from different cultures. It is a concept that requires self-awareness, awareness and understanding of cultural differences, and the ability to adapt to clinical skills and practices as needed

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 first step to properly caring for a patient is acceptance. A nurse must accept the fact that not everyone is the same. Communities consist of many diverse ethnicities and spiritual practices. A nurse has to learn how to throw out all the judge mental thoughts of an individual and try to view the situation through the eyes of the patient. To be culturally competent in the professional practice of nursing, a health care worker must show respect. Health care workers cannot force a patient to go through with a procedure. The individual must respect the wishes of the patient to deny medical care whether it be because of spiritual reasons or just fear of the unknown. Most importantly, a health care worker must be culturally competent in order to avoid misdiagnosis of a patient. Judging a

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 Competency can be described as one’s ability to learn about cultures other than their own. It speaks to the value one places on diversity and their desire to foster an open exchange of ideas between dissimilar cultures. While in a perfect world, cultural competency would be of heightened importance in all aspects of life, there are certain industries where cultural competency factor more heavily; one of those being health care. This is especially true in areas with increased diversities of cultures, ethnic groups and a variety of languages.

After watching the Cultural Competence in Health care video, I learned that there are many different people I will deal with in my career as an advocate for health. One quote I really liked from the video stated, “My diversity is my strength, not my weakness”. I believe this is true because having so many different people of different cultural backgrounds opens up the opportunity for different points of view to develop new ideas. This reminds me of the activity we did in class on our first day. We were asked to simply write down what our thoughts were. What we realized upon getting our sheets back is that when you work with others, they may have an idea you had not thought about. Overall, I think this video is a good representation of the

There is nothing worse than being in physical pain or being ill. There are many diseases that often go untreated and this is due to people not going to the doctor. In the video Cultural Competence in Healthcare For Providers the patients interviewed knew little to no english. When they seek healthcare professionals it is because they feel ill or were hurt. When asked to reschedule some may not come back due to fear of the same situation. Cultural competency is not an optional skill to learn, it is a necessity for all dietitians and health care professional, regardless of their specialty (Curry, 2000; Sindler, 2001). When working with diverse populations we need to be able to help each and every single person when they are their most vulnerable

The importance of Cultural Competency when working with a diverse population within health care is extremely important. It’s a major part of health providers jobs to be respectful and mindful of their patients culture and or background. The health provider should acknowledge the patients beliefs, traditions and religion to be sure the patient is as comfortable as she or she can possibly be. After all the patient is seeking help because he or she is not feeling well or needs some sort of medical attention, so of course it should be the health providers best interest to not but more stress on the patient or make them more uncomfortable then what they already are. There can be a few pitfalls if a health provider completely ignores the patient’s

Patient centered care is a core component of nursing practice. Understanding and practicing cultural competence is a central element of delivering patient centered care. One approach to understanding other cultures is by utilizing the Purnell Model for Cultural Competence. According to Larry Purnell (2002), cultural competence is defined as “the adaptation of care in a manner that is consistent with the culture of the client and is…a conscious process and nonlinear” (p. 193). In the model, culture is divided into 12 different domains: overview/heritage, communication, family roles and organization, workforce issues, biocultural ecology, high-risk behaviors, nutrition, pregnancy and childbearing practices, death rituals, spirituality, health care practices, and health care practitioner (Purnell, 2002). This model is an excellent framework for assessing and interpreting the cultural complexities of each patient so the best individualized care can be provided. I have used this model and each of its domains in an interview with my friend, Surbhi Patel, in an attempt to further understand her culture.

Increasing nurses’ degree of cultural competence begins with baccalaureate nursing education and curriculum. Long (2012) infers that despite nursing schools’ inclusion of cultural diversity content in coursework, the curriculum highlights theory and knowledge without emphasizing the need to develop culturally sensitive skills in nursing practice. Cultural knowledge is only one of the steps involved in enhancing student nurses’ cultural competence. It is essential for baccalaureate nursing students to also exercise self-awareness of cultural values, beliefs, and personal prejudices through multiple learning experiences, which requires a great amount of time, training, and self-reflection (Long, 2012). In addition to traditional lecture presentations,

In any case, providing competent care to a patient of a different culture must first start with an understanding of the culture itself (Potter & Perry, 2011). Culture is

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.