Cultural Competency in Healthcare

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Introduction Cultural Competency is fundamentally linked with the principles of social justice and human rights because it provides the nurses with the opportunity to develop interpersonal skills to provide equal care despite one’s cultural background. However, using the principles of social justice and human rights to educate nurses allows them to learn how to negotiate cultural differences. Removing their own cultural filters, and seeing events through the eyes of those who are culturally different accomplish this. An embedded experience, in which nurses interact with various cultures, would encourage them to adopt Cultural Competency knowledge (Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, 2008). Environmental justice can influence the population’s health. This environmental justice is relevant to nursing, because awareness brings changes and can save and improve many lives. When a person in a hospital or in a community setting is affected by a health problem, the entire community is at risk, knowing the population is lack of knowledge and have limited access to understand health care system. Therefore, a solution to eliminating cultural disparities is optimal for immigrant communities. In conformity with the Journal of Transcultural Nursing journal, nurses need to follow 12 steps to have a successful result when integrating cultural competence in the health care environment: social justice, critical reflection, knowledge of cultures, culturally competent practice, cultural competence in the health care systems and organizations, patient advocacy and empowerment, multicultural workforce, education and training in culturally competent care, cross-cultural communication, cross-cultural leadership, policy development, a... ... middle of paper ... ... care. Washington, DC: National Academies Press. Taylor, Elizabeth Johnson. (2001) Spiritual Care: Nursing Theory, Research and Practice, Prentice Hall. pp. 197-205 Singleton, K., & Krause, E. (2009). Understanding cultural and linguistic barriers to health literacy. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 14(3). United Nations. (2008). Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Dignity and Justice for All of Us. Accessed on October 29, 2010. from http://www.unhchr.ch/udhr/lang/eng.htm Young, C., & Koopsen, C. (2010). Spirituality, health, and healing: An integrative approach. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.

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