I learned that Aboriginal seniors in Canada have more health care concerns than non-Aboriginal seniors and their needs are not well understood and were taken for granted by health care providers. I can apply in my nursing practice what I have learned from this topic that I will respect and acknowledge their culture and way of life. In addition to that, I will keep in mind that Aboriginal seniors needs more intensive support than non-aboriginal because of what they experienced at the reserved and residential schools. I want to learn more about their traditional practices
In relation to Aboriginal health, this will require nurses to develop greater awareness of culture and the influences that affect it including racism, colonialism, historical circumstances, and the current political climate in which we live. Nurses working with aboriginal communities need to understand the history, socio-political climate and culture within the specific community (Foster, 2012). Nurses must emphasize the need for solutions that will strengthen cultural identity, identify and promote both existing and traditional sources of strength within First Nations communities, incorporate traditional healing methods, and rely on local control and self-direction by First Nations communities (Mareno & Hart, 2014). In addition to placing a high priority on cultural awareness, nurses should also understand the concept of respect in aboriginal terms and apply respect in all their encounters. Self-awareness of their own beliefs and assumptions are important in order for nurses to have an effective relationship with the community (Foster, 2012). It is important for nurses to reflect on their own cultural knowledge, awareness, skills, and comfort in encounters with a diverse population of
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
64). Reflecting one owns practice is the first principle, and it is a critical part for nurses because it is a vital characteristic for achieving professional competence (Mann, Gordon & MacLeod, 2009). While minimising the power gaps between the nurses and the Indigenous patients is the next principle (Atkins, De Lacey & Britton, 2014). An Indigenous client view nurses to have more power more than them, thus acknowledging the Indigenous practices lessen the power imbalance (Durey & Thompson, 2012). Thirdly, in implementing cultural safety it is actually engaging sensitively with the patient to gain understanding of their viewpoint (Atkins, De Lacey & Britton, 2014). Some health care providers lack true engagement to the Indigenous clients in the health care settings (Ware, 2013). For an instance, the use of medical jargons and abbreviations while talking, a culturally safe nurse includes simple language or explanation that the patient can understand easily (Skellet, 2012). Additionally, having an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health workers in health care facility can excellently build trust and can promote better engagement among Indigenous client (Hepworth et al,
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.
Firstly, the nurse should avoid maintaining eye contact with an Aboriginal client to avoid appearing “intrusive, threatening, or harmful” (Potter, 2014, p. 247). Next, the nurse should not assume how the Aboriginal client is feeling based on their calm demeanor. For instance, the nurse should not assume that an Aboriginal client that appears to be calm is not experiencing discomfort. Secondly, if the nurse is faced with a language barrier, the nurse may request a translator for the Aboriginal client. Depending on the available resources, the translator may be sourced from the facility or the community. Thirdly, the nurse should ask Aboriginal tribe members for education regarding traditional Aboriginal practices. For instance, the nurse may learn death rituals that are tribe specific, such as burying personal possessions with the individual (Eliopoulos, 2010, p. 30). Next, the nurse must respect that the Aboriginal client may prefer treatment in the form of “spiritual rituals, medicine men, herbs, home-made drugs, and mechanical interventions such as suction cups” (Eliopoulos, 2010, p. 29). In addition, the nurse should be aware of the emphasis on harmonious family relations and “reverence for the Great Creator” in Aboriginal culture (Eliopoulos, 2010, p. 29). If available, the nurse should direct the Aboriginal client and their family to the nearest
The benefits of this would be the staff understanding the culture and giving advice and health care that is appropriate to the individual’s needs. Once again by encouraging Indigenous Australians to in fact become the health care workers will also have benefits to these rural communities as they will see that the healthcare is nothing to be afraid of and will seek help when required rather than only when the illness is at its worst. Education is also an important key to Indigenous Australians accessing healthcare, if community leaders are educated to the healthcare that is available then they can pass this on to their community members, also if the community sees that the leaders are comfortable in accessing the health care then this would encourage them to also access the health care. Trust is important as if you do not have the trust within the community then it will quickly spread throughout that the healthcare setting is not to be trusted and Indigenous Australians will be too frightened to attend. Word of mouth is important within the community but you do not want people to have bad experiences then go back to their community and spread the word that they had a bad experience. As quoted by Florence Nightingale “unless we are making progress in our nursing every year, every month, every week, take my word for it we are going backwards.” (Nursing Schools.net,
Part 3: Analysis The main ideas that Lisa Bourque Bearskin is stating in this article is that nurses need to be more sensitive to cultural care. They need to be aware of the issues in healthcare and strive to remove any barriers for certain groups, such as the first nations, and they need to disrupt any unequal relations in the social, political and historical aspect of healthcare. The way this can be done is by shifting their thoughts from cultural competence to cultural safety by way of relational ethics. Cultural competence is explained as the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that nurses need to use to care for cultural differences. Another framework described cultural competence as going through the stages of cultural awareness, cultural knowledge, cultural skill, cultural encounter, and cultural desire. Cultural competency works very well when making policies in an agency but this view fosters a view of culture that does not encourage nurses to ask questions. (Bearskin, 2011) Cultural Competence causes different cultures to be put in a box, which cannot be done because cultures are constantly changing and every person’s culture is different. Culture is individual. Lisa Bourque Bearskin goes on to say that cultural safety is what nurses should use for ethical practice. In cultural safety, a nurse must strive to improve health care and its access for all people, while recognizing that there are many different cultures that have a right to be recognized. Bourque
Culturally Competent Nursing Care Denise Foss-Baker Minnesota State University Moorhead Culturally Competent Nursing Care 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
Diabetes has become a serious issue in indigenous Australians in Australia. According to the Australian human rights commission (2001), indigenous people were three times more than non- indigenous Australians. Compared with all the population in the world, aboriginal Australians have the fourth highest rate of type 2 diabetes. Around 10%
Professional Communication: Cultural Sensitivity among Native Americans Professional Communication: Cultural Sensitivity In nursing school, we are normally taught that we should respect the dignity and rights of all clients. As the "world becomes reduced" and societies and individuals become more mobile, we are progressively able to network with people that are from other cultures. Cultural respect and competence for others becomes particularly significant for us as nurses and patient supporters. Applying the principles and theories of communication is important for sufficient patient care. A lot of various communication methods are executed and have diverse focuses. Small groups use mechanisms such as objectives, standards, cohesiveness, behaviors, and therapeutic issues. Duty, process and midrange groups are separate categories. Orientation, tension, cohesion, working and dissolution are stages groups go through. Successful personal and professional communication profits the patients and other health professionals; however, the lack of applicable communication can lead to poor patient results and a hostile and fruitless work setting (Doane, 2004). However, the cultural group targeted in this paper is the Native Americans because this group has become a challenge for public health nurses.
The social determinants of health are described as the condition of daily living in which determines the individual’s chances of maintaining optimum health (Department of Health and Human Services 2015). In Australia, the health inequality between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians is noted by the World Health Organization (WHO) to have the largest disparity in the world (Markwick et al. 2014). Statistically, the life expectancy for indigenous Australians who are born in 2010-2012 is estimated to be 10.6 years lower when compared to non-indigenous Australians (Markwick et al. 2014). Social determinants such as employment and social exclusion may contribute to the major difference in the health status between the indigenous and non-indigenous Australians (Markwick et al. 2014). This essay will focus on discussing how having employment and social exclusion has led to the health inequalities between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians, and how indigenous healthcare nurses can address these determinants in the care they provide in the indigenous community setting.
To better understand culturally inclusive care the hospital provides, nursing and healthcare practices and policies were identified and examined. An initiative was taken by the hospital in launching an Aboriginal Health Strategy that was designed to further help establish bridges and develop a culturally safe environment for local aboriginal communities on 8 of July 2015 (God, 2015). A major benefit of the program included recruitment of 30 Aboriginal staff, which corresponds to about 4% of the health care facility 's personnel to make certain culturally assured care for Aboriginal patients was achieved (God, 2015).
In general, Aboriginal health services are ineffective. This is due to a wide variety of factors, but mainly due to a lack of trust/cultural miscommunication which is a catalyst for many other factors. This lack of engagement is due to a variety of factors, such as lack of access to health care, lack of aboriginal representation in the health workforce, ect. Overall, the difference in mortality rates between indigenous and non-indogneous peoples proves to highlight the need in the health community to provide effective services for Aboriginal people.
This encounter referred to as biculturalism, is an important aspect of cultural safety. This means that the interaction between a nurse and a patient is always considered bicultural as this involves the nurse’s culture and that of the patient’s. In this contact there is hidden power structure and a dominant culture (Henderson, 2003; Jarvis, 2012; Papps & Ramsden, 1996). As stated earlier, in New Zealand the colonisation British enabled them to dominate over all aspects of New Zealand’s way of life and culture, hence in the health care setting, the non-Maori culture prevails. As a culturally safe practice, nurses should learn to respect and acknowledge the culture of the care recipient whether it similar or different from them. Recipients of cares should be encouraged to participate and utilize their culture in managing their health and treatment (Papps & Ramsden, 1996). The nurse’s self awareness of one’s culture while acknowledging and respecting another’s is a fundamental requirement in order to practice cultural safety in nursing (Papps & Ramsden, 1996; Polaschek, 1998; Robinson et al., 1996).