Japanese American Nurse Culture

Nurses are the leading advocate for improving our country’s nursing education and health to enhance the health care for the elderly and ill. Nurses primary focus is caring for the patients. Observing the illness in which they are enduring, assessing their functional status, reporting their condition, promoting health and disease prevention, teaching, care strategies, assisting them and their family in their care, and developing plans to enhance their health are also duties of the nurse. Nurses have an important job to do. Along with all these duties, the nurse must always take in to consideration the patients culture. The culture of the patient and the awareness of their culture is vital to the nurse. Culture guides many aspects of the patients learning and understanding of information. Culture and decision making in nursing are vital together. The discipline of philosophy defines their values, beliefs, arts, sciences, modes of perception, and habits of thought and activity. In terms
An empathetic, blameless, problem solving approach, especially in counseling situations, would work better than a direct and blunt approach, as the Japanese, in general, are indirect. Health promotion would not be a difficult topic to discuss with Japanese American elders, especially, immunizations and maintaining healthy habits of diet and exercise. Cancer screening, however, can be controversial. Some feel as though they are looking for something bad. Other health risks, for example hypertension, needs to be elaborated on and how the diet effects hypertension. Some of the high salt dietary items may not be understood as being very salty, such as soy sauce, preserved meat and fish, and pickled vegetables. In discussing dietary issues, such as calcium intake for prevention of osteoporosis, it should be noted that the prevalence of lactose intolerance is