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Importance of cultural competency in health care
Importance of cultural competency in health care
Culture and health care assessment
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An individuals’ culture is one attribute that differentiates them from the person standing next to them. Ones’ culture often shapes their lifestyle, sexuality, spirituality, and their perception of common social norms. Many often overlook the importance of cultural competence, and agree that it should be approached in case-by-case scenarios. Essentially, it is our moral obligation as human beings to attempt to understand the variety of different cultures. Being aware of cultural competence is essential in the nursing field. Nurses must learn to embrace and respect the cultural differences between each patient; not doing so can impede the progress of the nurse to patient communication process; it can cause the patient to withhold information, and even result in conflict. When a nurse falls subject to being racist,
Ethnocentrism can be understood as implying that his/her own ethnic group is superior to another, thus treating the next culture as inferior. This will negatively impact the nursing practice because it can result in misdiagnosis and miscommunication. An ethnocentric nurse would be unable to assess the needs of a patient due to implementing their own personal norms and/or comparing it to their own personal behaviors. This will essentially hinder the nurse-client relationship by causing the client to withhold information and/or resent the nurse. Stereotyping can be defined as simplifying or generalizing the norms of a specific ethnic group. This can cause a strain in the communication between the nurse and the client. Ethnocentrism and stereotyping both display the lack of cultural competence; they both negatively affect the approach of culturally sensitive care. In order to effectively care for a client and build a therapeutic relationship, the nurse must consider the clients social, cultural, and spiritual needs as a human
Ethnocentrism is defined as judging a different culture exclusively by the principles and values of one’s own customs. This is one o the major problems that the Lee family faced while being treated….. Before reading this novel, I had no idea what Hmong culture was or that it even existed, as I’m sure that was the same case with many of the health care team. The tragedy in the novel stems from the lack of awareness to the Hmong culture and the opposing beliefs of treatment between the medical staff and the Le...
McClimens, A., Brewster, J., & Lewis, R. (2014). Recognising and respecting patients ' cultural diversity. Nursing Standard (2014+), 28(28), 45.
Cultural genograms are useful in expanding one’s awareness of the effects of culture on an individual. In turn, this can aid in understanding how other people are a product of his or her culture as well. Cultural genograms are a beneficial tool in providing culturally competent care in nursing. It is essential to remember that there is not an individual culture that is considered to be correct or the standard, but that every culture has a unique view on practices in life. Being culturally sensitive is a critical element in providing culturally competent care.
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 health. The Jewish (also referred to as Jews), in particular, have intriguing health practices and beliefs that health care providers need to be aware of.
Issues of culture are often controversial. LaBorde (2010) has noted that culture is always a factor in conflict. Ironically, conflict can provide nurses with an excellent opportunity for developing compassion that will lead nurses unto a place of meeting in which there is a deep respect for differences and equally intentional openness to the possibility of connection. Healthcare practitioners are confronted in a daily basis with the practical manifestation of these issues. In particular, nurses are more confronted by cultural issues than the other healthcare providers because nurses spend majority of their time with patients. However, some nurses are reluctant to confront and discuss the cultural issues because of lack of knowledge in dealing with patients of diverse cultures (Tjale & Villiers, 2004).
Integrating the framework will enable nurses to become culturally competent health care providers. First and foremost, the framework permit patients’ the opportunity to express their concerns and perception of their problem (Campinha-Bacote, 2011). Additionally, it focuses on incorporating the patients beliefs, values, and needs into the plan of care. The framework further give nurses an opportunity to better understand and evaluate their patients’ concerns. Campinha-Bacote (2011) reported that continuous encounters with culturally diverse backgrounds will lead nurses to validate, refine, or modify what they know of existing values, beliefs, and practices of a cultural group. This in turn, will develop into cultural desire, cultural awareness, and cultural knowledge. With the end result, being cultural
These differences in origin accounts for diversity in socio-cultural backgrounds and nurses must develop the knowledge and the skills to engage patients from different cultures and to understand the beliefs and the values of those cultures (Jarvis, 2012). If healthcare professionals focus only on a narrowly defined biomedical approach to the treatment of disease, they will often misunderstand their patients, miss valuable diagnostic cues, and experience higher rates of patient noncompliance with therapies. Thus, it is important for a nurse to know what sociocultural background a patient is coming from in order to deliver safe an effective
Cultural competence in health care provision refers to the capacity of health care systems to offer good care to patients and accommodate employees, who have diverse beliefs, behaviors, and values to meet their cultural, linguistic, and social needs. It comprises of policies, attitudes, and behaviors that integrate to form a system that can operate efficiently in cross cultural conditions. Healthcare organizations look at cultural competence from two major viewpoints. Firstly, it is a tool to enhance patient care from all backgrounds, social groups, languages, religions, and beliefs. Secondly, it is a tool that strategically attracts potential clients to their organizations and, hence, expands
Providing culturally competent care is a vital responsibility of a nurse’s role in healthcare. “Culturally competent care means conveying acceptance of the patient’s health beliefs while sharing information, encouraging self-efficiency, and strengthening the patients coping resources” (Giddens, 2013). Competence is achieved through and ongoing process of understanding another culture and learning to accept and respect the differences.
Nursing cultural congruence is when we adapt to another’s beliefs, values and lifestyle in order to provide that individual or group better care (Andrews & Boyle, 2016). In order for a nurse to have cultural congruence, they must have some type of knowledge of the various cultural traditions and respect those cultures. By understanding the way a culture factor influences nursing care, we are able to improve our teachings, improve understanding and provide overall better care for a healthier outcome for our patients. An example of this could be having a staff member that is bilingual or teaching materials written in a different
As nurses entering the medical field understanding the culture of our patients is crucial to proper care. Each culture has their own set of beliefs and values that are shared among groups of people which influences personality, language, lifestyles, house hold, level modesty, social standings, foods, health treatment and identity. Culture affects how people view health and illness; dictating when, where and what type of medical treatment they will receive and who will be their care provider.
Miller, Leininger, Leuning, Pacquiao, Andrews, and Ludwig-Beyer, (2008) support that the skill of cultural competency in nursing is the ability to gather relevant cultural data on the presenting problem of the patient. This cultural assessment is defined as a "...
As a nurse strive to provide culturally sensitive care, they must recognize how their client's and their perceptions are similiar as well as different. Nurse enhance their ability to provide client-centered care by reflecting on how their beliefs and values impact the nurse-patient relationship. To provide appropriate patient care, the nurse must understand her/his culture and that of the nurse profession. Cultural biases can be particularly difficult to identify when the nurse and client are of a similar cultural backgroup. When we recognize and know a culture, we will know what is right for our patient, and thus may impose our own values on the client by assuming our values are their values. Recognizing differences a present an opportunity not only to know the other, but also to help gain a greater sense of self. In this paper, I will explain more about diversity and cultural competence in case study.
What is culture and what does it mean to be culturally competent? How does being culturally aware apply to nursing? How can I become a nurse who is culturally sensitive to work with patients who expect care that fits their cultural needs? As you begin your general practice as a nurse, these are all questions you may ask yourself and they are indeed questions that should concern you. After all, culturally adequate care is fundamental to incorporate into your practice.
Characteristics can be as diverse as ethnic background, language spoken, gender status, physical appearance, race, and religion to name a few. Migration from various countries is creating a diverse population with different cultures and languages within the United States. Due to these cultural differences and lack of knowledge, disparities are increasing. Studies have shown that both language barriers and lack of cultural customs can hinder the services provided to the patient by the healthcare worker (Renzaho, Romios, Crock, & Sonderlund, 2013). This study provided a positive outcome when communication and cultural mutual understanding took place and patients had a more positive health outcome. It is very important that nurses are diversified in various cultures in order to better care for our patients. According to Mareno and Hart (2014), cultural competency has become one of the core values being taught in nursing programs. Their study showed that the perceived level of cultural awareness and skills among the nurses provided was low. Awareness and knowledge levels increased with higher education. It was highly recommended that self-awareness exercises be incorporated into the nursing course and continued to be addressed during the remaining curriculum until