Essay on Cultural Diversity in Nursing Care

Brigitte Anne Dionisio: Dionisio was born and grew up in the Philippines, moved to the US with siblings at 11 years old. Her family, both speak Tagalog and English fluently at home, Dionisio said in her culture Family is valuable, and “That’s what my elders teach us at every generation.” Says Dionisio. She and her family aren’t religious; Dionisio does go to church on Sundays with her family. Birthdays, Holidays, or any occasion, family always get to together everyone has to attend. She is from a huge family, she follows every Filipino tradition.

As the United States becomes more and more culturally diverse one cannot help but be exposed to various cultures and worldviews. America has long been called the melting pot, and that term has never been truer than it is today. According to Green and Reinckens (2013) the U.S. Census Bureau estimates that by the year 2041 the U.S. population will be a majority minority. In other words, less than half of the population will be non-Hispanic, single race Caucasian. This growing diversity makes cultural competence in healthcare a necessary

As nurses, we have to be transcultural and put our own beliefs and practices aside, and focus on the patient’s beliefs and practices in order to provide proper nursing interventions to help patients improve their health (DeSantis, 1994, p.708). The nurse must look at the patient as a way to learn about different cultures. The patient is the nurse’s source of information about the culture. Without understanding the effects of culture, many situations could be dangerous (DeSantis, 1994, p.714). Caregivers taking care of different populations must be aware of the many observances, and must ensure situational awareness to make the patients feel comfortable and trust that caregivers understand the patients’ needs in order for healing and health improvement to happen. Medical professionals have to be able to work with people from many different cultures as globalization

Cultural diversity is when a group of individuals from different cultures come together. The cultural differences include; race, ethnicity, language, nationality, religion, age, gender, social status, or sexual orientation come together (Andrews, & Boyle, 2016). Cultural diversity incorporates how individuals perceive themselves, and how he or she perceives others of different cultures or sub-cultures. Age or generation is an essential aspect of workforce diversity. Generation is important because the individuals are born within the same time period, providing common views, and beliefs because of the common exposure at a young age (Rajput, Bali, & Kesarwani, 2013). This paper will provide an overview of the four Generations represented in the current workforce today, an overview of the generation that I belong to, and lastly, an explanation of how one group can learn from another.

The Consoli Family, inclusive of my parents, Alfred and Jeanann Consoli, and their parents, Alfred and Carmela Consoli and Eugene Vignali and Patricia Costanzo has had a medical history with diseases such as, Type 2 Diabetes, Memory Loss, and Strokes. Type 2 Diabetes has affected my father, paternal grandmother, and numerous extended family members, such as, great aunts and cousins. Memory loss and Alzheimer's has been diagnosed in both my paternal and maternal grandfathers. Finally, my maternal grandmother experienced a stroke and high blood pressure in 2000. My mother, Jeanann Consoli, is alive and well with no current medical conditions. In addition, my sister is alive and well with no known medical conditions.

My parents divorced when I was young so I did not know much of my paternal family’s medical history, although I generally see them at least annually. My father came from a large family with multiple siblings. I was told by my mother that Grandma Rose also lost a few children, perhaps multiples but that this was normal for that period of time living on the farm. I was somewhat stunned to learn that Grandma Rose died of heart disease at the age of 62 and that a couple of my uncles had heart disease as well, I knew Vince died suddenly of a heart attack; I did not realize he was only 65 years

The tool is instrumental in increasing the knowledge of the culturally based health beliefs and practices. Through utilization of the tool, the nurse is well acquainted with the culture that guarantees self-growth experience and to administer good care for the patients exhibiting a wide range of cultures. Courtesy of the tool, the health professional will learn and understand the individualized views of the patient on health as well as their practices along with the perception of nursing health (Purnell, 2012). Cultural ties have a strong impact on the manner in which a person thinks and receives the medical care, including such aspects as preventive measures in health care, standard health promotion messages, continuing care, and therapeutic services among others. Considering the cultural uniqueness of a patient can assist a nurse in creating a positive and nurturing, patient-nurse relationship that can successfully share between the patient and the nurse, and will thus boost better healthcare. The Health Assessment Tool-assisted to identify the differences and similarities between the three families. Various components affect health maintenance among different households. They include foods that are consumed on a daily basis, religious practices, relationship with extended families, the country of origin, ethnic background, among other factors. Health protection would, therefore, include practicing superstitions and folk

Cultural differences occur in a lot of situations in the nursing practice. In order to give the best care, I must apply the five constructs toward cultural competence. These five constructs include: awareness, knowledge, encounters, skills, and desire. In order to develop cultural competence, I must be aware that individuals just like myself have their own beliefs, values and practices of their own culture. During a cultural encounter, I must be aware that not only is the patient’s culture present but as well as my own, and as well as the culture of our environment. Similar to an Ombudsman, I must be aware of my patients cultural needs and preferences in order to advocate for my patients. In order to be aware of patient’s cultures, I must

While this family may not be a good representation of that lifestyle, it does represent the cultural shifts that are happening in our nation. The

Culture can be defined as a way of life of a group of people such as, belief, behavior, values, customs that they accept and can be passed on from one generation to another. Cultural diversity is the presence of different cultural groups in the society, cultural diversity is something that nurses have to learn and practice every day in their carrier, especially when caring for their patients because, every individual or patient think, act and respond differently to different situations and level of their care. The purpose of this paper is to identify eight reasons why transcultural nursing is necessary specialty, describe the meaning of cultural diversity and it relationship to nursing and explain three ways I will provide culturally sensitive care to my patients (Andrews, Margaret M., and Joyceen S. Boyle, 2016)

Cultural diversity is one of the topics that have a great effect on nursing profession. The nursing and the patient population are made of people from diverse cultures and ethnicities. Even though cultural diversity might facilitate tolerance, it may cause some conflicts between different beliefs and habits. It is easier for people who come from different ethnicity to have the openness and recognition of different cultures because they came from different background too. My personal experience, being from a dissimilar culture may cause some stress in the work environment, but it has helped me to look at my patient population and coworkers in a broader spectrum. These differences may cause some challenges for the nurses in order to cooperate

This project is being developed to improve patient outcomes by decreasing barriers when caring for people from different cultures. Nurses may face a rapidly changing environment and care for patients from diverse backgrounds. Cultural beliefs can promote or impede health care, with access to services affecting the quality of life. Sociocultural diversity is growing along with a need for increased efforts in reaching health equality. Diverse dynamics among cultures can impact effective healthcare creating a need for multifaceted interventions. This diversity comes with inequalities and the need for cultural competence to promote health. Strategies need to be created and implemented to address differences between western medicine and other cultures

You may not have thought about your role as a caregiver for the family of a dying patient. Besides a few lectures in class about cultural and social factors impacting nursing care, this topic of dealing with the death of a patient is often glossed over. From my own experience knowing what to do or say when someone is suffering the loss of a loved one is not something nursing students spend a lot of time learning about in class nor is it easy to prepare for. This paper briefly looks at ways nursing staff can support families during the actively dying phase, the time of death, and immediately following the patient’s death in the hospital care setting. A nurse once recommended the book On Death and Dying to me, by Kubler- Ross. It was put perfectly

When a family member has a long or serious illness, it may interrupt family life as we know it. Per family traditions, the children and even the extended family members are not told why a member of the nuclei family is ill. When my father who was residing in another country had a stroke; the children were not timely informed. The concern was that it can disrupt school activities, knowing that all the children are in college in addition to the cost of travelling from one continent to another continent. Looking back now with the exposure to another culture and a professional as a nurse; I have was able to educate my family differently. Family tradition is so strong with superstitious beliefs. Older generations are beginning to understand that illness is part of life and family must care enough to express love that usually results in healing.

This paper will be discussing the importance of understanding Cultural diversity in nursing. It will be focusing on understanding the knowledge of cultural diversity and why it’s important. I will also discuss the different attitude that nurses are expose to from different culture. As reference I will be using the “Journal continuing Education in Nursing”; (L. Price, July 1994). According to L. Price cultural diversity challenges health care providers to facilitate bridging cross-cultural gaps with clients. He believes that it is through culturally relevant care that nurses can serve the needs of all clients in our diverse society. Mr. Price also stated that nurses can use the following steps to have a better connection with patients that have a different background from them. The four steps include the following; (1) health care providers should assess their own cultural beliefs and be aware of general ethnic, regional, and religious beliefs and practices in their area; (2) develop a teaching plan; (3) implement the plan. Those are the three topics that I will be discussing in the following pages.