Caring for Culturally Diverse Clients

Introduction

Nursing care is provided within a strict ethical code that include the promise to provide the best possible care to patients and communities. The nurses ethical code describes that duties and values that each nurse must fulfil to ensure that all patients/clients receive the same high quality care, regardless of demographic differences such as socioeconomic status, disability, age, gender and race. This becomes a concern is nurses are unable to provide culturally competent care. In fact, nurses must be aware that culture has a significant influence on the health-related practices and beliefs of individuals and communities. Demographic factors such as education, gender, socioeconomics, geography and language play a large role in the decisions that individuals make about nursing care, both for themselves and their families (Beauvais, 2018). Perceived from another perspective, if nurses are unable to account for the cultural difference among the patients and provide them with culturally competent care, then the patients would experience barriers to receiving the appropriate level of care. Besides that, failing to acknowledge the cultural differences between patients and accommodate their cultural beliefs, in conjunction with conventional nursing practice, can increase the stress that patients experience, and negatively impact the treatment outcomes. Patients can often be stressed or agitated, and having a nurse who speaks their language or understands their unique cultural background may help them relax thus improving therapy and care (Christenbery, 2017).  Caring for Culturally Diverse Clients Essay Paper

Summary of findings

Globalization has created a unique situation in which although the local community can be predominantly of a single cultural identity, there is likely to be cultural minorities within the population. Case in point, the current population in the USA is predominantly Caucasian, but about half of the population are from minority demographic groups (Reed, 2017). As nurses face the increased likelihood of providing care to patients from different backgrounds, they must learn about cultural diversity and become culturally competent in order to reduce stress and risks to patients during treatment (Kaihlanen, Hietapakka & Heponiemi, 2019). Besides that, ensuring that nurses reflect the diversity of the community makes it easier for nurses to develop cultural competency, thereby allowing the nurses and patients communicate more openly. Also, the patients would feel safer if effective care is provided in diverse care teams. Overall, cultural differences can cause patients to experience barriers to receiving the appropriate level of care (Jongen, McCalman & Bainbridge, 2018).

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Recommendations

Providing effective nursing care for culturally diverse patients can be achieved through four interventions. Firstly, ensuring that the nursing staff reflects the diversity within the community. This increases the likelihood of patients receiving care from nurses of the same cultural background and having more open communication, a situation that is more important for cultural minority groups. Secondly, educating nurses about cultural diversity and competence. This equips the nurses with the professional tools to provide inclusive, equitable care that promotes a less stressful, healthier experience for the patients and their families. In addition, this allows the nurses to have a firm grasp of the cultural difference so that they experience less frustration and stress when working with culturally diverse patients (Beauvais, 2018). Thirdly, there is a need to apply cultural competence model in nursing care delivery. This model would help nurses in identifying the cultural health beliefs of patients, and gain skills and beliefs about caring for difference cultural beliefs even as they engage with diverse patients to practice their skills on an ongoing basis. In applying the recommended actions, the nurses open up communication lines, which make it easier for nurses to identify health indicators and reduce medical errors thereby reducing risks to patients Christenbery, 2017.

Personal opinion

It is important for nurses to be culturally competent as this aids them in developing and growing professionally even as they incorporate the relevant societal values. Cultural competence centers around understanding care relationships, having knowledge of various cultural views and practices, developing communication skills that promote interactions, and having a positive attitude towards various cultures. At its core, nursing is a versatile career that includes caring for the sick, taking care of patients at home, and providing treatment plans. To deliver the best possible care, nurses must be culturally competent as regards having knowledge of cultural diversity and treating the patients with the diversity in mind with a focus on demonstrating cultural beliefs for the values, race and beliefs of patients. In applying cultural competence, nurses are able to relate more to and empathize with patients even as they attend more deeply to their care needs (Weiss, Tappen & Grimley, 2019).

Reflection

Nurses deliver patient care through the application of validated interventions. In their professional roles, nurses apply evidence-based practice (EBP) as an aid for pinpointing care strategies that are more helpful to the patients given a set of circumstances. EBP focuses on integrating a patient’s preferences, clinical expertise and research evidence to create a problem solving approach in clinical practice that encourages nurses to provide individualized patient care. This makes it clear that EBP acts as a key component for enabling nurses to provide exceptional patient care. With the inclusion of EBP, nurses have access to scientific research that helps them to make well-founded decisions. Through EBP, nurses are able to search for evidence that first the profiles of their patients, thus allowing them to increase the chances of the patients’ recovery even as they stay updated abut new care approaches. With the application of EBP, nursing practice experience changes as it achieves better patient outcomes that reduce the demand for healthcare resources (Christenbery, 2017).

References

Beauvais, A. M. (2018). Leadership and Management Competence in Nursing Practice: Competencies, Skills, Decision-Making. Springer Publishing Company.

Christenbery, T. L. (2017). Evidence-Based Practice in Nursing: Foundations, Skills, and Roles. Springer Publishing Company.

Jongen, C., McCalman, J., & Bainbridge, R. (2018). Health workforce cultural competency interventions: a systematic scoping review. BMC Health Services Research, 18, 232. https://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12913-018-3001-5

Kaihlanen, A. M., Hietapakka, L., & Heponiemi, T. (2019). Increasing cultural awareness: qualitative study of nurses’ perceptions about cultural competence training. BMC Nursing, 18, article number 38. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-019-0363-x

Reed, C. (2017). Cultural Competence. AJN, American Journal of Nursing, 117(7), 13. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.NAJ.0000520925.34279.30

Weiss, S. A., Tappen, R. M., & Grimley, K. (2019). Essentials of Nursing Leadership & Management (7^th ed.). F. A. Davis Company.  Caring for Culturally Diverse Clients Essay Paper