Nursing: Spiritual, Spirituality, Nursing, And Culture

“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

Utilizing the culture care theory, nurses become knowledgeable of what constitutes health in understanding the meanings and symbols of the ways of culture. Care, caring knowledge, and actions are core components that will ensure the health or wellbeing of people in various cultures. Kaakinen et al (2015) asserts that clients may not be prone to nurse’s suggestions for health promotion because of cultural conflicts with the client’s belief and value systems.

The Republic of Indonesia is a land full of many different cultures, ethnicities and beliefs. It consists of five large islands, and thousands of smaller islands, of which six thousand are inhabited (“Indonesia”, 2016). Indonesia is a little over nine thousand miles away from the United States, and with all that distance comes some distinct differences in lifestyle, beliefs, and social norms. As a nurse working in the healthcare field, it is our responsibility to be respectful of other people’s beliefs and values and to encourage diversity, even with our patients. Allowing our patients to continue their normal routines as much as possible and to feel comfortable decreases stress, which enables healing. It is hard to be respectful of another’s beliefs without first having an accurate data base of information about said person’s beliefs. This essay outlines detailed information about several different aspects of Indonesian culture including; family patterns, communication, space and time, nutritional patterns, health beliefs and practices, spiritual practices, and biological variations.

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 in nursing is imperative for effective patient care. A nurse must know his or her own values and beliefs as well as knowing about a patient cultural practices in relation to healthcare. Cultural competence is defined by some as: “the learned, shared and transmitted values, beliefs, norms and lifeways of a particular group that guides their thinking, decisions and actions.” Also it is noted that an important change to this definition is “the recognition of the dynamic,

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.

Culture is a system of beliefs that are shared and communicated within a certain group of people, along with behavioral expectations and values that provide a framework to live by. No two people practice culture the exact same way. In the healthcare setting, especially in the United States, nurses and other healthcare workers are exposed to many different cultures. Being a culturally competent nurse ensures that individuals, families, and different groups of society get customized care that is well planned and implemented (Taylor, Lillis, & Lynn, 2015).

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).

Culture competence is a quality that any nurse should have. The article that I decided to research refers to the impact that language and different cultures have on a patient’s health. It is the duty of health care professionals to attempt to learn about different cultures and to be sensitive to the way patient’s feel about their beliefs. Once the nurse understands a patient’s

Health is defined a state of wellbeing which is equally viewed by many different cultures. However, the definition of wellbeing is seen differently among cultures, in relationship to their beliefs and values. (DeNisco & Barker, 2015). Cultural care in nursing is a very important part of nursing care, whether the nurse is a bedside RN or a practicing primary care NP. There are many theories in nursing related to cultural care. Most encompass the need for nurses to take into consideration the cultural caring behaviors and values of individuals and families to provide culturally competent nursing care.

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.

People of the Chinese culture have many different beliefs and practices of medicine and healthcare. It is extremely important for nurses to be culturally competent and to be able to understand different practices and beliefs of different cultures to ensure that they are providing the best care and making their patients as comfortable as possible. According to Shih-Yu Lee, ritual is defined as “a social essential collective activity within a culture,” it is also well recognized that culture and ritual plays a fundamental role in “defining, sensing the health and illness, and searching help for problems” (Shih-Yu, Shu-Ling, and Yu-O, 2013). There are many rituals and beliefs of traditional Chinese medicine that are crucial to understand, the

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.

Nursing theory is foundational to nursing practice; however, there exists a reciprocal relationship between practice and theory. Through examining nursing theory, the nurse can make better-informed decisions about the patient’s care. In addition, the theory will influence the care for future patients as well. One theorist that changed the landscape of nursing is Madeleine Leininger. Her culture care theory changed the dialogue of healthcare regarding care. This paper will discuss the importance of theory in nursing theory. Next, a summary of Leininger’s theory will precede a discussion about how the theory will be applied in a nursing context. Finally, the correlation between Leininger’s theory and the practice of a nurse practitioner will ensue. Her culture care theory will inform the practice of a nurse practitioner and how culturally competent care will be given.