Culturally Congruent Nursing Essay

Living and working in America presents its own set of challenges. People originate from all corners of the world and all have one thing in common; at some point in their life wither themselves or a family member need to be seen by a health care provider. In order to care for these patients, we as nurses must be culturally educated. First, I am going to discuss some basic terms associated with cultural diversity. Next I will describe cultural self-assessment and rationalize why it is important. As a final point I will identify the five steps in the process for delivering culturally congruent nursing care. Some basic terms defined in our textbook include, cultural baggage, ethnocentrism, cultural imposition, prejudice, discrimination, and cultural

First, an assessment of both the nurse and client must be made. The nurse must perform a self-assessment and compare it to those of the client. They must determine the skills needed to deliver culturally competent care. The cultural self-assessment must include self-reflection, self-location, and psychomotor skills. This will help the nurse reflect on their own shortfalls and modify their attitudes toward this set of people with a different background (Andrews, M. & Boyle, J., 2016). The nurse must then collect subjective and objective data about the patient, this includes their health history and physical exam. Next, the nurse must meet with the family members including religious, spiritual healers and the healthcare team to set clear and concise goals. These people discuss their options and how to meet the desired outcome. After the goals are established a plan of care is developed. The patient’s religious beliefs and practices will be taken into account. Once the plan of care is set, treatments and interventions that coincide with the patient’s cultural believes are put into action. All teams will work together to make sure the best care is provided the way the client wants within reason. Once treatment is started the healthcare team evaluates the care plan to see if all goals have been met. If they have not modifications may be made in the process will be repeated (Andrews, M. & Boyle, J.,