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Humans are complex and diverse beings that belong to different cultures, speak different languages, and have different perspectives on the world they live in. When cultures collide, it can be difficult to empathize and respect the differences that exist. Cultural sensitivity is, “The ability to be appropriately responsive to the attitudes, feelings, or circumstances of groups of people that share a common and distinctive racial, national, religious, linguistic or cultural heritage” (Arnold & Boggs, 2016, p. 119). Cultural sensitivity and effective communication, especially in the health care setting, are essential to bridging cultures and creating a common understanding.
Examine how public health organizations and health care providers encourage their employees to gain “cultural competence” beyond being bilingual. First they need to enhance their employee’s self-awareness of attitudes they might have towards different racial and ethnic groups. Second they can improve the care that they give by simply increasing their knowledge about different cultural beliefs and practices. How those groups typical seek health care and the attitudes they have toward health care.
Medical providers that have cultural competency will overall enhance the quality of care to a diverse group of patients. Having that cultural knowledge would help the medical provider make the patient feel comfortable ultimately increasing the chance for that patient to follow through or adhere to the medical provider's treatment plan. It would also allow the medical provider to help build a friendly nurturing relationship with all of his or her patients. Developing these friendly relationships with patients will help make the patient worry less about a difficult diagnosis and would give them hope that they could one day get better from it. When a medical provider is culturally competent they would know how to respond to certain medical scenarios
In nursing school, students were introduced to the idea of cultural competence. It is a concept that I am familiar with due to my cultural background. Being respectful and aware of the beliefs and values of other traditions cannot be neglected and ignored. We are all global citizens that hold different views and perspectives, therefore leaders must equip themselves with the understanding that people expect and will act differently based on their cultural beliefs.
If nurses lack of understanding regarding community demographics and cultural differences, they can have unintentional bias, and stereotype patients due to a lack of awareness of the cultural demographics of the community they serve (Camphinha-Bacote, 2011). Cultural competence is the understanding of different cultures and how that impacts the provision of patient care. Cultural competence in nursing is defined as one willingness or the desire to understand a patient’s culture, the ability to learn about a defined cultures belief system, and to work effectively as a healthcare provider understanding the dynamics of the patient’s culture as it relates to their relationships and care (Kardong-Edgren et Al.,
Cultural competency is increasingly important in healthcare today. In America today, we are facing a lot of tension between cultures today. America is a very diverse country with many cultures co-existing and in order to properly care for patients professionals need to be able to understand and tend to their cultural needs. Whether it be a difference in language, understanding that someone is a veteran and how that may affect them psychologically, or any other set of circumstances that surround a specific culture. Having the knowledge and resources that cater to different cultures makes for better experiences across the board and, consequently, makes for more effective healthcare visits.
Cultural Competency means you are "pro-active in promoting cultural diversity and Seek opportunities to improve cultural relationships" (Cultural Competency by Brannon). Cultural competency in the health care sector is vital to giving accurate health care given the vast array of races, cultures and ethnicities we live among. If a healthcare practitioner were culturally inept, they are unable, unwilling or lack the skills to become competent in understanding and embracing cultural differences. As it pertains to healthcare, we can't apply treatment and diagnostics with a broad brush. We have to be able to take deeper look at everyone's culture, background and understand lineage and inherited characteristics.
Leininger’s theory was effectively applied and incorporated in ANA scope and standard number eight culturally congruent practice. It is the application of evidence-based nursing that is in agreement with the preferred cultural values, beliefs, worldview, and practices of the healthcare consumers and other stakeholders. The theory demonstrates respect, equity, and empathy in actions and interactions with all healthcare consumers. Nurses and health care workers applied to practice by participating in lifelong learning to understanding cultural preferences, choices, and decision-making processes of diverse consumers. It also identifies the stage of the consumer’s acculturation and accompanying needs and engagement.
The world is a diverse population, with people coming from various ethnic and cultural backgrounds. A person’s views, values, and traditions determine their daily needs and practices. So, healthcare providers face certain challenges and restrictions because a patient’s belief may inhibit professionals from providing the most effective care. Therefore, cultural competence is an important idea for healthcare providers to consider when understanding and respecting patients. Balcazar, Suarez-Balcazar, and Taylor-Ritzler (2009) noted in “Cultural competence:
Cultural competency has the potential to reduce inequities in access to health services and improve the health status of diverse cultural
Cultural competency in nursing has never been more relevant than in the present day united states. The U.S. has become one of the most culturally diverse countries in the world and population dynamics are changing not only in cities but in rural settings as well. This impacts the healthcare system as different cultures possess varying meanings of appropriate punctuality, eye contact, vocal tone, interpersonal space, diet, touch, religious beliefs, and biological compositions. While I strive to be as inclusive as possible, As a white individual having been raised in rural southwest Wisconsin, I feel it would be easy to inadvertently isolate or be culturally insensitive with no intention. I want to ensure that I am culturally sensitive to the
Definitely, language barrier between the healthcare staff and the patient can hinder the appropriate delivery of care. What happen if you do not have a nursing staff that has the same background of the patient? As a culturally competent nurse, you know that there are other avenues to resolve that, like using a hospital interpreter or using a phone line for linguistic help. Spector (2013) stated that the Joint Commission of Hospital Accreditation and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services obligate that all health care providers be “culturally competent.” According to her, cultural competency entails that the health care provider understands and attends to the totality of the patient’s situation and it will need the combination of knowledge, attitudes, and skills.
Madeline Leininger’s Cultural Care Diversity and Universality Theory, deals with the impact of culture on health and healing. In health care today, a nurse must deal with people from many backgrounds, cultures, and ethnic origins. Transcultural nursing is practiced throughout nursing when caring for people from different cultures. The purpose of Leininger’s theory is to produce knowledge related to nursing care of people from diverse nationalities, who value their ethnic heritage and culture. Leininger’s theory recognized and understood cultural differences and similarities while caring for patients of different backgrounds.
Cultural competency: Indians Culture competency is defined as one has the knowledge, the abilities and the skill to deliver care congruent with the patient’s cultural beliefs and practices (Purnell, 2013). As a nurse or a health care provider, increasing ones consciousness of culture diversity improves the possibilities for health care practitioners to provide competent care (Purnell, 2013). Nurses and all health care providers should be aware of other cultures to provide the best care that they can for that individual. Developing a relationship with diverse cultural groups involves good interpersonal skills and the application of knowledge and techniques learned from the physical, biological, and social sciences as well as the humanities (Purnell, 2013). I am choosing to select the Indian culture for my first assignment.
The way a person thinks about health, “whether that is our ‘philosophy’, our ‘worldview’, our ‘framework’ influences what we do as individuals in practice,” as well as how we deliver the health service. These elements allow us to think about healthcare in our own culturally acceptable way, this isn’t always an acceptable way of delivering the service to people with views different to our own. Cultural competence is an approach that aids in influencing the service and the education of healthcare professionals. (Taylor, K., & Guerin, P., 2010). Cultural competence is defined as a knowledge and understanding of cultures, histories and contemporary realities and awareness of protocols, combined with the proficiency to engage and work effectively in a cultural context congruent to the expectations of the people of that culture.
