Cultural Competence
Nursing, like any of the fields within the medical professions, requires a wide-ranging set of skills. Some of these can be seen as purely technical, such as knowing how to triage a patient coming into an emergency department or how to ensure that anti-infection and anti-contagion processes are being followed. In addition to these skills, nurses must also be able to connect to their patients on a personal level, helping to alleviate the stress and fear that so often accompany medical procedures. Part of this latter set of skills requires nurses to be culturally competent, a phrase that is relatively new to the profession although nurses have been aware of the importance of this perspective on an informal level for generations. The fact that it now has a name, however, is an indicator that cultural competence is now increasingly important to the profession.
I would like to begin this paper with a definition of cultural competence. At the most basic level, cultural competence is the ability of an individual to interact in an effective and positive manner with someone from another culture or subculture (Bridging the health care gap). This ability to be effective when interacting with someone who has different experiences and values requires a number of related skills and insights. The first of these is that an individual become aware of one's own cultural view. This seems as if it should be relatively simple, but in fact it can be quite difficult. The ability to recognize and understand one's own cultural values is analogous to being aware of the air around us. Of course, we all know that there is indeed air surrounding us because if there weren't then we would all day of suffocation....
Cultural Competence Health Practioner Assessment for Nurses In this situation, the nurse must be very kind, gentle, and firm in emphasizing to the parents that urinating on a newborn baby is fairly harmful to the health and the life of the infant. In attempting to convey these sentiments, the nurse must essentially assume the role of a teacher. Firstly, he or she should explain that he or she realizes that in
There are also some generalizations that do not include all, but some, Puerto Rican culture: conversations are usually very interactive and full of interruptions. Interruptions mean interest in the subject discussed; silence denotes disinterest rather than paying close attention. If someone is talking to someone else and a third person joins in, the people talking are expected to stop what they are saying and acknowledge the newcomer. Also, it
Nursing: Cultural Competence, Sensitivity and Empowerment Cultural Competence, Sensitivity and Empowerment: Nursing The changing demographics of the modern-day multicultural world are increasingly challenging healthcare professionals to consider cultural diversity as a priority in the health sector. Being able to deliver effective care to patients from diverse backgrounds begins with understanding the values, beliefs, and customs associated with different cultures. This text summarizes the writer's experience in a Native American powwow, and explores
Instead, the doctor or nurse must obey the same ethical principle in all cases. They must uphold their moral duty to save the lives of all of their patients, and dispense the highest quality care they can conceivably give under the circumstances. However, while the Kantian ethics of duty might be useful when making individual moral decisions for healthcare practitioners, the idea of utilitarianism popularized by John Stuart Mill and
"Culturally different clients are clients who racial, ethnic, gender, socioeconomic, and/or religious backgrounds and/or identities are different from the healthcare professional or student…[healthcare students must learn cultural competence] so that quality outcomes indicators such as enhanced client satisfaction and positive health outcomes may be achieved." (Jeffreys, p. 24) Nursing is definitely not the only profession demanding cultural competence; it has also become an important part of skills required of a
" (a Manager's Guide to Cultural Competence Education for Health Care Professionals, nd) Cultural competence is a development process as no individual "becomes culturally competent overnight or with one or two hours of training." (a Manager's Guide to Cultural Competence Education for Health Care Professionals, nd) Cultural competence training is stated to involve "attitude changes and the examining of personal biases and stereotypes as an initial step to acquiring the
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