Nurses need to be culturally sensitive to provide competent care. The cumulative diversity within the healthcare workforce itself has received much less attention; yet without attending to increasing diversity in both groups, it is doubtful that efforts to improve cultural competence will be successful. One may be aware of many different cultures, but due to one’s biases, he or she will still not provide the appropriate care. In order for healthcare providers to become culturally competent they need to have the desire, skills, awareness and knowledge. Cultural competence among primary care givers is crucial to identify problems and create proper plans of care for the patient.…
The delivery of health care is specific to the needs of each patient as an individual. In achieving this health care professionals must take into consideration the patients cultural and traditional values. Thru the years many people have mixed within cultures; however, most have retained their deep rooted cultural customs, values, and beliefs. In order to deliver quality care to patients and achieve positive clinical outcomes health care professionals must be culturally competent in diverse populations. To become culturally competent health care professionals use an assessment tool known as the “Heritage Assessment Tool”. This tool asks a set of questions that is used to investigate a patient’s cultural, ethnic, and religious backgrounds. By using…
Many health care organizations are now calling for multicultural competent health care professionals. It is suggested cultural competence is as an ethical obligation and cross -cultural skills should be placed on a level of parity with other specialized skills (2009). Within each culture exists an incredible diversity of groups and subgroups (2011). Achieving a base of knowledge for each group creates a challenge.…
As nurses, we not only need to understand cultural competence, but we also have to be sure not to generalize groups of people. Each client is an individual, and it is important to form a therapeutic relationship so we can care for each specific client. Each client has his/her own needs; just because two people are of the same culture, it doesn’t mean that he/she believes in the same thing. In turn, nurses need to understand their own culture and beliefs before caring for a person of a different culture or beliefs. In our research, we chose four peer-reviewed, scholarly journal articles found though the Lambton College data base (CINAHL). We began with a search of cultural competency and then narrowed the search down through specific cultures which are within the Sarnia Lambton area.…
Using the Self-Assessment of Perceived Level of Cultural Competence (SAPLCC) questionnaire, frequencies, means, and ANOVAS were determined to create medical and pharmacy student profiles of cultural competence. Profiles were used to identify needs for training and underscore critical issues that should be given priority in the curriculum. Significant differences were found in several domains of cultural competence (knowledge, skills, attitudes, and abilities); they may be explained by differences in the implementation of a pilot curriculum, the racial composition of students in both programs, and other characteristics. However, in the awareness domain, the main differences found may be explained only by respondents' attitudes and their personal…
The Quad Council of Public Health Nursing Organizations, known as the voice for public health nursing, was founded in the early 1980’s to address priorities for public health nursing education, practice, leadership, and research. There are eight domains of The Quad Council of Public Health Nursing Organizations Core Competencies and the domain four is about cultural competency skills (Cravetz, Krothe, Reyes, & Swider, 2011). This domain generally ensures health care providers to recognize, respect and provide effective care to diverse individuals, families and groups. Professional Nursing class in BSN degree program provided me the deep understand of the cultural, internal and external attitudes, values, beliefs and evidence based practice…
The importance of cultural competency when working with diverse populations in health care can affect a patients or clients overall health in a positive or negative way and also affect reputation of the doctor and the staff. In the article Cultural Competency: Values, Traditions and Effective Practices, by Carol Brannon she defines Cultural competency, as “the ability to understand and respond effectively to the cultural and linguistic needs of patients or clients”(p.2). Brannon also explains how the US is more of a “salad bowl” comparing it’s diversity to the unique ingredients of a salad rather than a “melting pot”, which demonstrates how people have different needs and requisite different kinds of treatment according to their cultures, beliefs, values, habits, etc. Being able to communicate in a positive manner and connect with patients can lead to healthier lifestyles, promote more positive attitudes towards diversity and develop policies that can benefit everyone.…
The presence of cultural competence in the health care system and what it means for the health of our diverse population, is something that should be part of the schooling for healthcare providers. Cultural Competence in the health care system is described as the ability to tend to the needs of patients through understanding their linguistic and cultural differences. Our vast, diverse population in the United States makes cultural competence in health care imperative. Without it, we cannot provide other cultures with the effective and comforting health care they need and deserve. In order for culturally diverse people to receive the proper health care they need, health care practitioners must be well versed in other cultures. Their ability…
Cultural competence can be defined as being aware of our world views, developing skills for communication and interaction across cultures by using positive attitudes towards cultural differences by gaining knowledge of different cultural practices and world views. Cultural competence is about the actions to build understanding between people, to be respectful and open to differences. Understanding cultural competence is developing positive attitudes towards cultural differences.…
This 2011-2012 study was conducted to determine if cultural competence training would be a positive influence a pediatric health care provider’s understanding and treatment of culturally diverse patients. 69 participants were chosen from the Nemours Children’s Health System, from a variety of departments including both inpatient and outpatient physicians, nurses, physical therapists, and other health care workers. The participants were required to take a pre-training self assessment, a two-part cultural competence training program, and a post-training self assessment one year later. The training program consisted of an internet-based module followed by group discussion. According to the post-training self assessment surveys, participants…
Culture is defined as the beliefs, language, values and beliefs that are shared by people in a specific society and cultural competency while is not easy to define precisely enough to make into actions it’s defined as a “set of congruent behaviors, attitudes, and policies that come together in a system, agency or among professionals and enable that system, agency or those professions to work effectively in cross-cultural situations” (Cross et al, 1989), which basically means being able to evolve from diverse perspectives, it is about being aware of one’s cultural identity, views and being able to learn and build on the varying cultural and community norms others.…
Cultural competence in health care is the ability of providers and health care systems to integrate and deliver highest quality of care regardless of race and culture background. Individual values about health are shaped by their race and socioeconomic status. In order to improve patient and provider interactions they should recruit minority staff, training on cultural awareness, and knowledge about different cultures in their geographic area. These changes will take time but it will build patient trust with their provider and promote high quality health care.…
Cultural competence in health care combines the beliefs of patient centered care with an understanding of the social and cultural influences that affect the quality of medical services and treatment. With the ever increasing diversity of the population of the United States and strong evidence of racial and ethnic disparities in health care, it is critically important that health care professionals are educated specifically to address issues of culture in an effective manner. Organizations such as the National Academies of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine and the American Medical Association have recognized this.” (OMH - Ofiice of Minority Health)…
Today there’s so much diversity than there was a long time ago. Everyone has different races (multiracial), religious views, and culture. That is why we need Cultural Competency. Is important because we all come from different cultures and Cultural Competency helps us with that. When it comes to health care is important for us to that we all know about Competency. “Health care providers should understand: beliefs, values, traditions and practices of a person’s culture” (Brannon). We don’t want to offend anyone by assuming things. We need to hear them out because they might have beliefs that we need to know and give them an alternative. If we don’t there can be a pitfall.…
Current trends of an increasingly multicultural society emphasize the need for nursing education programs that effectively address cultural issues. To understand the diverse cultural backgrounds of clients, nurses must strive to be culturally competent (Marcinkiw 2003). Cultural competence requires the building of cultural awareness, knowledge, skill, encounters, and desire in the nurse. Clients will feel respected, valued, and have a greater desire to achieve mutually agreed upon health care goals if the nurse is culturally competent. The purpose of this essay is designed to show the cultural competence in the nursing profession by providing a guide that is useful for implementing cultural sensitivity in nursing education and practice.…