October 29, 2012
Literature Review
A Paper Presented to Meet Partial Requirements
For NRSG-494B
Transcultural Nursing
Southern Adventist University
School of Nursing
Literature Review: The palliative care needs of ethnic minority patients: staff perspectives An article titled “The Palliative Care Needs of Ethnic Minority Patients: Staff Perspectives” discussed the palliative care staff’s perceptions of multicultural care provision and explored the barriers and facilitators to culturally sensitive care. This was a qualitative study done with five palliative care nurses. The study was conducted in the day care unit of a large palliative care facility of a university hospital in central England. The staff was asked to volunteer to participate in the study. Those who were interviewed had extensive experience working in palliative care for a number of years. The data revealed several themes that included staff philosophy of care; facilitators and barriers in the provision of multicultural care; aspects of care; positive perceptions; and palliative care complementing multicultural care. The research by Driver, Molassiotis, and Weeks (2003) clearly shows the appreciation of differences between cultures as well as staff recognizing the individual nature of patients’ needs. The staff was supportive of the philosophy of individualized and customized care for each client. The staff also verbalized a desire for culturally specific knowledge to enhance their individualized care. Driver et al. (2003) stated some of the staff members noted they had not received training in multicultural care but they still felt very strongly that providing individualized multicultural care was central to their nursing practice. The staff also appeared to value more education and training to enhance their specific knowledge of different cultures. Four of the staff members thought a reference folder