Cultural Diversity Although I Believe That I

¶ … Cultural Diversity

Although I believe that I have critically met the objectives for a master's degree in working in many ways (particularly academically), I can honestly state that the area in which I progressed the most was in dealing with cultural diversity. Prior to entering this program, I had extremely limited experience dealing with cultural diversity, especially in the workplace. Despite working as a nurse for the past 16 years, the most diversity I had ever experienced in my patient population was the occasional Spanish speaking client -- which would require me to utilize the language line for interpreting my directions and interacting with the patient. However, thanks to my involvement in this particular academic program, I am now much more acclimated with cultural diversity and believe that I have significantly improved my prowess in this aspect of my work as a professional nurse.

My experience with cultural diversity changed primarily after I traveled to Honduras for a two-week trip facilitated by the School of Nursing. During this time period, I had a significant amount of interaction with individuals who were culturally different from myself and from the majority of my patient population. I immersed myself in becoming acclimated with people at a level of penury that is rare to match in the United States. Foremost during my trip, I performed manual labor for a number of villagers in the predominantly Spanish speaking population. Doing so acclimated me with the daily rigors of life in this part of the country which is indicative of impoverished people virtually everywhere. As such, I was exposed to a quality of life and different sorts of people that I had never previously experienced, which certainly helped me adapt to a level of sensitivity and compassion that is integral to providing care for such populations.

After the first couple of days that I spent performing manual labor, I devoted virtually all of the rest of my time to nursing in various rural areas in Honduras. I learned so much from witnessing what local residents experienced while attempting to seek health care. They would routinely (and quite literally) walk for miles to come to our treatment centers, which were makeshift and the best that we could do in these circumstances. Still, my group and I persevered in administering the most efficacious care that we could in this situation in which there was no clean water, no laboratory to perform any sort of diagnostic work, and the only medicine was that which we were able to bring from the U.S.

Some of the patients I saw and there conditions really galvanized me to overcome any cultural differences and to administer the best care that I could. Although I had access to interpreters, there I my best to learn Spanish and communicate with the native in their own tongue -- which would visibly relax them, in some instances. During the course of my treatment I saw patients who had maladies that are no commonly found in the U.S., such as dengue fever. I helped treat a child who had a beetle in his ear for the better part of the year; there was one poor girl I saw who had contracted kerion in part because she was treated with an antibiotic instead of antibacterial medicine for an ear infection.