Personal Experience: My Migration To The United States
My parents immigrated to the United States, from Europe, 40 years ago. I was born in the United States, but English was not my first language, and I have spent many hours in the hospital translating for my own grandparents. Growing up in New York City, I was exposed to many different types of cultures, ethnicity and races that also made me very culturally sensitive. Growing up and working in such a diverse environment, I have not experienced the challenges that many people do in less diverse parts of the country. I was a bedside nurse in a very fast paced inner city hospital with all various populations ranging from different economic, cultural, racial and social backgrounds, and that was our “typical” patient.
There are challenges that
come with working in such a multi-cultural population but we were equipped with personal and electronic translators and many nurses and physicians came from various parts of the world. Working with staff that is so diverse made it easier to work with a diverse population. Blais and Hayes (2015) described the challenges of working in a culturally diverse environment require nurses to be open to differences in beliefs about health and illness, different types of cultural healers and healing traditions, and the use of traditional healing practices. I experienced this with a mother from Asia who was not accustomed to delivering her baby lying in a bed, like we normally do in the United States. She wanted to be in a squatting position. She explained to us, via a translator, that this is the most natural way to deliver a child. We were equipped to have her deliver while lying in bed, but standing up did pose a few challenges monitoring the fetal heart rate, as well as monitoring the mothers vital signs. As long as the fetus was not showing any signs of distress, I felt comfortable having her in the position of her choice, as long I had continuous monitoring of her and the baby. In the end she had a successful childbirth squatting, and not only was she happy, but we used it as a learning experience. A few nurses asked her permission to be present during the delivery, in case they had another patient with the same cultural practice. The mother was more than happy to oblige.
I believe being first generation and working in such a diverse environment has aided me in being very culturally aware and intern benefiting every type of patient.
There are challenges that
come with working in such a multi-cultural population but we were equipped with personal and electronic translators and many nurses and physicians came from various parts of the world. Working with staff that is so diverse made it easier to work with a diverse population. Blais and Hayes (2015) described the challenges of working in a culturally diverse environment require nurses to be open to differences in beliefs about health and illness, different types of cultural healers and healing traditions, and the use of traditional healing practices. I experienced this with a mother from Asia who was not accustomed to delivering her baby lying in a bed, like we normally do in the United States. She wanted to be in a squatting position. She explained to us, via a translator, that this is the most natural way to deliver a child. We were equipped to have her deliver while lying in bed, but standing up did pose a few challenges monitoring the fetal heart rate, as well as monitoring the mothers vital signs. As long as the fetus was not showing any signs of distress, I felt comfortable having her in the position of her choice, as long I had continuous monitoring of her and the baby. In the end she had a successful childbirth squatting, and not only was she happy, but we used it as a learning experience. A few nurses asked her permission to be present during the delivery, in case they had another patient with the same cultural practice. The mother was more than happy to oblige.
I believe being first generation and working in such a diverse environment has aided me in being very culturally aware and intern benefiting every type of patient.