Culturally Competent Nursing Research Paper

Culturally Competent Nursing Care 1.

Culturally Competent Nursing Care

Culturally Competent Nursing Care 2.

Often, I have heard the United States referred to as the “melting pot” due to its

wide variation of ethnicity. In July of 2007 the United States Census Bureau estimated

the Caucasian / non Hispanic population at 65.7%, Hispanic or Latino at 14.5%, Black /

African American at 13.5%, Asian at 4.5%, American Indian / Alaskan Native at 1.5%,

and Hawaiian / Pacific Islander at 0.3% (Hood, 2010, p. 274). The word culture as

defined by Sir Edward Taylor
in 1871 “…to refer to the complex whole, including

knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other abilities and habits people

acquired as societal member” (Hood, 2010, p. 275). Madeline Leininger pioneered the

transcultural nursing movement and Transcultural Nursing society. She explained that

people deserve to have their values and beliefs honored by nurses who care for them

(Hood, 2010, p.274).

Josepha Campinha-Bacote developed a cultural competency model. She explains

that cultural competency is an ongoing process, and one must continue to develop skills

in order to care for their diverse clients. The first step in cultural competency is

understanding your own beliefs and values. The understanding of your own culture and

life experiences influence your values. The second is cultural knowledge, meaning that

you are willing to learn and understand another person’s values and beliefs. Obtaining

this skill will help you in understanding your patient’s views on their medical problem,

which in turn can help you properly educate your patient. The third step is cultural

skill, which is being able to perform a culturally competent physical assessment. This

includes an understanding of differences in physical appearance, such as skin color. The

Culturally Competent Nursing Care 3.

fourth step is cultural encounters, meaning the nurse will intentionally interact with those

of different cultural backgrounds to broadened their views and decrease stereotyping.

The fifth step is cultural desire, which is the motivation that drives the nurse to become

more engaged and aware of cultural diversity within their patients. (Campinha-Bacote,

2002, p. 181-184).

For this project, I asked my supervisor where I could locate policies on delivering

culturally sensitive/competent care.
She sent me the hospital’s policies and procedure

guidelines, describing St. Joseph’s Hospital nursing philosophy: We believe (the)

patient(s) and their significant other(s) health needs exist on a continuum extending from

prevention to rehabilitation and maintenance of well being. The patient’s right to

determination is actualized by empowerment with knowledge and skill for self-care and

self-advocacy. Nurses are patient advocates respecting the patient’s health, culture,

spiritual, and psychosocial beliefs, as well as that of the support person(s). In addition, an

interdisciplinary approach that includes the patient and the support persons achieves

optimal outcomes for the patient. While I did fine this policy helpful, I think expanding

the emphasis on cultural competence would be helpful. Examples of this would be to

become a culturally competent nurse an important skill to learn is to show genuine

concern and respect for those upon whom you are caring for. Non-verbal mannerisms and

acting in a hurried manner can be misconstrued as being uncaring. Prior to performing
a

physical exam, asking permission to touch is a sign of respect as some cultures do not

permit this (Hood, 2010, p.281).

Culturally Competent Nursing Care 4.

Prior to asking my supervisor, I tried to see if I could locate anything on cultural

sensitivity and competent care.
I did a search within the policies and procedures directory

and nothing populated. I believe that development of a guideline for delivering culturally

sensitive and competent care is necessary, especially within a diverse population such as

Tampa, Florida. I work at a large hospital in Tampa. In the area surrounding the hospital,

we have a large Hispanic / Latino population. For our patients that do not speak English,

we have the translational language line telephone that assists staff in communication with

our patients. We have preprinted educational forms / videos and consent forms in

Spanish. An area where I see a needed change is in delivery of discharge instructions.

Whenever I am discharging a Spanish speaking patient, I use a translator to verbalize the

instructions. The problem is the discharge instructions are only printed in English, and

this can lead to miscommunication. As someone who has travelled to other countries, I

can empathize with those who do not speak the same language.

The hospital occasionally does provide continuing education opportunities

discussing cultural diversity, but these are optional and not mandated. I asked a
fellow

colleague of mine, who recently went through the hospitals two week orientation classes

for new nurses if they discussed anything on cultural diversity or sensitivity. She told me

that cultural diversity was lightly discussed, but they focused more on spiritual care and

generational gaps. While spiritual care and generational gaps are important, I think this

was a missed opportunity to teach cultural competence and development to new nurses.

From my own experience as a new nurse in 2001, I would have found this helpful as I
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had limited experience in interacting with different cultures prior to becoming a nurse.

This included not only patients, but other staff members that have a different cultural

belief than I do.

Culturally Competent Nursing Care 6.

References

Hood, L. (2010). Leddy & Pepper’s conceptual bases of professional nursing (7th Ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Campinha-Bacote, J. (2002). The Process of Cultural Competence in the Delivery of
Healthcare Services: a model of care. Journal Of Transcultural Nursing, 13(3), 181-184.