Nurse Culture Assessment Essay examples

“Health is influenced by culture and beliefs” (NRS-429V, 2011, p. 1). In order for the nurse to properly care for the patient, she must know and understand the patient’s culture. “Cultural care is a comprehensive model that includes the assessment of a client’s cultural needs, beliefs, and health care practices” (NRS-429V, 2011, p. 1). It is not enough to just know where the patient lives or where he came from. The nurse must embrace the concept of cultural competence and cultural awareness. This requires not only the awareness of the cultural beliefs and values of their patients, but also

Theories of transcultural nursing with established clinical approaches to clients were founded in the mid-1960s and are an essential aspect of healthcare today. The ever-increasing multicultural population in the United States poses a significant challenge to nurses providing individualized and holistic care to their patients. Accurate assessments identify factors that define transcultural nursing and analyze methods to promote culturally competent nursing care.” (Maier-Lorentz, 2008)

The nursing profession has a long history of assessing and placing patient needs first when giving care. The tenets of nursing practice include meeting those needs using individualized care by collaborating with the patient, family, and health care team members. (American Nurses Association, 2010). The concept of transcultural nursing aligns with these tenets because it calls on nurses to provide patient-centered care by taking into account the patient’s background, beliefs, culture and values. In this paper, I will identify the factors that made it necessary to develop the transcultural nursing theory, describe the meaning of diversity and its relationship to the field of nursing, and explain three ways that I provide culturally sensitive care to my patients.

The culture of nursing is to provide culturally competent care, care based on principles of social justice and human rights (Douglas et al., 2011). This principle within health care is the belief that every individual is entitled to equal opportunities for health care while protecting dignity (Douglas et al., 2014). Consequently, best practices in culturally competent nursing care reduced health disparities using patient empowerment while integrating cultural beliefs into patient care and expanding health care access to vulnerable groups (Douglas et al., 2011).

Health in all cultures is an important aspect of life. A person’s cultural background, religion and/or beliefs, greatly influences a person’s health and their response to medical care (Spector, 2004). These diverse cultures guide decisions made in daily life; what food eaten, living arrangements made, medications taken and medical advice listened to. A nurse must be knowledgeable and respectful of these diverse cultures and understand their importance when providing care. This understanding helps to build a strong nurse/patient relationship, increasing patient compliance, which ensures positive outcomes are met. Patients who are satisfied

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

Cultural competence can be defined as using the ability of one’s awareness, attitude, knowledge and skill to effectively interact with a patient’s many cultural differences. Madeline Leininger, a pioneer on transcultural nursing describes it this way; “a formal area of study and practice focused on comparative human-care differences and similarities of the beliefs, values and patterned lifeways of cultures to provide culturally congruent, meaningful, and beneficial health care to people” (Barker, 2009, p. 498). The importance of cultural diversity in healthcare allows for the delivery of appropriate cultural autonomy. Showing respect for others will lead to trust between nurse and

With the large increase multicultural population in the United States, nurses encounter patients with differences in healthcare beliefs, values and customs. To provide adequate nursing care, nurses must be aware of these differences. They must respect and acknowledge the patient’s culture. To do this, nurses need education on cultural competence to ensure patient satisfaction and better patient outcomes.

Cultural aspects of holistic assessment is relevant in the provision of nursing care as it provides the care team with an overview of cultural needs of the patient as well as providing information in which the patients’ health problems have arisen. Culture is defined as values, beliefs, artifacts, behaviors, attitudes and customs influencing and regulating interactions between members of a social group (Stein-Parbury 2010: 91; Johnstone 2006: 67). It is the nurses responsibility to adhere to the ANMC, competency 2.3, ‘accepts individuals/groups to whom care is provided regardless of race, culture, religion, age, gender, sexual preference, physical or mental state’ (ANMC 2006, p. 4). Kozier & Erb (2012: 360) discuss that cultural sensitivity, appropriateness, competency and safety are all factors that are required to be taken into consideration so that the patient can be provided with the best possible health care. Kozier & Erb (2012: 360) also explain that conflicts in health care have been apparent due to cultural misunderstandings. An example of a cultural misunderstanding is the level of pain. In some cultures, it is normal to dramatically express ones level of pain whereas in other cultures people do

With there being such a plethora of cultures in the world, there are so many different beliefs and practices involving health and wellness, that almost everyone has a different definition of health, and different views on disease and illness in general. My definition of health involves many different aspects, but most importantly living a healthy lifestyle overall; being free from illness, and doing everything possible to stay that way. Eating a well-balanced diet, exercising regularly, and getting plenty of sleep along with protecting your

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

I was born and raised in the Philippines. I identify myself with the Filipino culture. I chose to learn about the Mexican culture, so I have interviewed my coworker. The interview was focused on the meaning of food in their culture and its impact on their health.

The Heritage Assessment Tool can be used as as a reliable tool to assess, health maintenance, protection and restoration of individual cultural beliefs. This evaluation helps meet the needs of different patient populations to provide quality holistic care. The purpose of this paper is to explore the Hispanic, Native American, Chinese, and the author’s own personal

Health is defined a state of wellbeing which is equally viewed by many different cultures. However, the definition of wellbeing is seen differently among cultures, in relationship to their beliefs and values. (DeNisco & Barker, 2015). Cultural care in nursing is a very important part of nursing care, whether the nurse is a bedside RN or a practicing primary care NP. There are many theories in nursing related to cultural care. Most encompass the need for nurses to take into consideration the cultural caring behaviors and values of individuals and families to provide culturally competent nursing care.

Today when people move across continents with the help of technology their culture and heritage moves along with them. Almost each and every continent is populated with people from different nations who have diverse traditions and cultures. Thus knowledge of health traditions and culture plays a vital role in nursing. People from different cultures have a unique view on health and illness. Culture-specific care is a vital skill to the modern nurse, as the United States continues to consist of many immigrants who have become assimilated into one culture. I interviewed three families of different cultures: - Indian (my culture), Hispanic and Chinese. Let us see the differences in health traditions between these cultures.