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Essays on cultural competence in nursing care
Cultural competence nursing paper
Value of cultural competency
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There are many factors that influence the ability for advance practice nurses to provide culturally competent care. The nursing profession is challenged by the growing number of ethnically diverse group in our country that require health care. Minority groups now account for 37% of the population in the United States, and it is predicted that by 2050, that will grow to 50% (Lee, Fitzpatrick, & Baik, 2013). During the 2011 Census, it was documented that 381 individual languages and dialects are spoken in the United States. This variation in languages makes it extremely difficult to communicate with patients, assess their discharge needs, and provide education. The nursing profession is challenged by this demographic shift since the demographics …show more content…
Cultural competency is adaptive, dynamic, and there is a strong emphasis on the value of diversity. Health professionals and organizations must develop and demonstrate cultural competence skills personally, professionally, and as an …show more content…
There is no end-point to searching out knowledge of other cultures and demonstrating understanding. It is through life experience that one learn of cultures. Caring, empathy, understanding, treating others as you would want to be treated are attributes of my personal philosophy regarding cultural competence. Though out my nursing career, I have come to realize that the profession of nursing is constantly changing and redefining. Defining practice through theory has validated nursing as a profession. Defining the skills needed for cultural competencies is rooted in caring, and core to the nurse-patient relationship. If a nurse cannot display caring or empathy, cultural competence cannot be attained. As our world becomes smaller and our society becomes more ethnically diverse cultural competence will be a necessary skill for health care professional. For nurses, caring, person-centered care, cultural competence, and quality is what defines practice for the 21st century nurse (Leininger,
...the formal and explicit cognitive practice learned through educational institutions. This type of practice is focused on the professional knowledge and care that nurses are taught in a educational establishment. Nurses provide (McFarland and Wehbe-Alamah 2015, p.14).assistive and supportive care for patients, along with the proper training to improve a patient 's health, prevent illnesses, and/or help with the dying. Taking the Culture Care Theory and ethnonursing research methods helps a nurse in the transcultural field provide culturally congruent care. This gives the nurses the ability to expand their knowledges and apply or teach their discoveries when interacting with a variety of diverse cultures. The form to obtain these new discoveries is presented in the most naturalistic and open way possible to keep a comforting relationship between the nurse and patient.
Immigration and the minority population is increasing each and every year. With a growing ethnically diverse population, it is vital that nurses are sufficiently equipped for and able to work with patients in a way that identifies and respects their diversity.
I know numerous East Africans and other minorities who fear and put off going to the hospital or clinic simply because they feel no one truly understands them on a more personal level and that their needs can’t and won’t be met entirely. According to the American Medical Association over 55% of health care providers agreed that, “minority patients generally receive lower quality health care” due to the lack of cultural competence. Those of different cultural backgrounds feel uneasy due to communication barriers and the lack of cultural competency amongst some health care providers. As a Somali-speaking nurse, I feel Somali patients, along with those of varying cultural backgrounds would be able to establish that sense of ease that’s needed when entering a health care facility or without having to feel the shame of having an interpreter hear about their personal health issues. According to Hospitals in Pursuit of Excellence,
The United States’ population is currently rising exponentially and with growth comes demographic shifts. Some of the demographics shifts include the population growth of Hispanics, increase in senior citizens especially minority elderly, increase in number of residents who do not speak English, increase in foreign-born residents, population trends of people from different sexual orientation, and trends of people with disabilities (Perez & Luquis, 2009). As a public health practitioner, the only way to effectively eliminate health disparities among Americans, one must explore and embrace the demographic shifts of the United States population because differences exist among ethnic groups (Perez, 2009). We must be cognizant of the adverse health conditions for each population and the types of socioeconomic factors that affect them. Culture helps shape an individual’s health related beliefs, values, and behaviors. It is more than ethnicity and race; culture involves economic, political, religious, psychological, and biological aspects (Kleinman & Benson, 2006). All of these conditions take on an emotional tone and moral meaning for participants (Kleinman & Benson, 2006). As a health professional, it is one’s duty to have adequate knowledge and awareness of various cultures to effectively promote health behavior change. Cultural and linguistic competencies through cultural humility are two important aspects of working in the field of public health. Cultural competency is having a sense of understanding and respect for different cultural groups, while linguistic competency is the complete awareness of the language barriers that impact the health of individuals. These concepts are used to then work effectively work with various pop...
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...
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.
Cultural Competence is important for many reasons. First, it can help develop culturally sensitive practices which can in turn help reduce barriers that affect treatment in health care settings. Second, it can help build understanding, which is critical in competence, in order wards knowing whom the person recognizes as a health care professional and whom they views as traditional healer, can aid the development of trust and improve the individual’s investment and participation in treatment. Third, our population in the United States is not only growing quickly but also changing, cultural competence will allow us as educators and healthcare workers keep up wi...
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
Cultural competence has a variety of definitions and, in health care, basically refers to the act of developing an awareness of yourself, your existence, your thoughts, and your environment and making sure that those elements do not unjustly affect the clients you serve (Giger, 2013). In this paper, I will share my total score and what I learned about myself after taking the Cultural Diversity Self Assessment (IllinoisCTE, n.d.), discuss two weaknesses or areas with lower scores, and review two strengths with higher scores. I will reflect on my findings and examine the impact that my strengths and weaknesses may have on my nursing care. In addition, I will discuss improving cultural competence and two strategies
233). She studied anthropology and applied the research findings in nursing. Later, she developed the theory of “culture care diversity and universality” from her personal experience as a nurse and other factors that influenced such as ethnic conflicts, commuting, and technology changes. It is illustrated and described by the Sunrise four-level model, and it is labeled as “an enabler” (Masters, 2014, p. 69). The first level represents a “worldview”, the second level presents “knowledge concerning individuals and groups”, the third level includes “specific features of care in the system”, and the fourth level is “specific nursing care” (Masters, 2014, p. 69; Jarošová, 2014, p. 47). The main purpose of this theory is “to generate knowledge related to the nursing care of people who value their cultural heritage” (McEwen & Wills, 2014, p. 233). The major concepts in this theory include: culture, culture care, and diversities and similarities and sub-concepts include care and caring, emic view (language expression, perceptions, beliefs, and practice), and etic view (universal language expressions beliefs and practices in regard to certain phenomena) (McEwen & Wills, 2014, p. 233). The base knowledge
Transcultural nursing requires us to care for our patients by providing culturally sensitive care to a broad spectrum of patients. The purpose of this post is to describe cultural baggage, ethnocentrism, cultural imposition, prejudice, discrimination, and cultural congruence. I will also give an example of each term to help you understand the terminology related to nursing care. I will define cultural self-assessment and explain why it is valuable for nurses to understand what their own self-assessment means. Finally, I will describe the five steps to delivering culturally congruent nursing care and how I have applied these concepts to my nursing practice.
Cultural competency can be described as the ability to affectively respond to the needs of individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds. There are various reasons for nurses to be cultural
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.
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