NR 394 Discussion Diversity in Nursing

Culture plays a substantial role in people’s perception of health and how they choose to treat it (Andrews et al., 2016). We hear so much about patient-centered care. To me, transcultural nursing is honing in on the idea of patient-centered care even further. In order to treat a patient at the highest level, we need to consider their background and how they perceive health. When caring for someone from a different background we need to ask ourselves: Where do they come from? What are their cultural beliefs? What’s their ethnic group? What religious beliefs do they have? What beliefs are important to them that may affect their care? One must understand a patient’s cultures and traditions in order to provide culturally competent care, and understanding cultural differences leads to better patient outcomes (Maier-Lorentz, 2008).

I have lived in the same area my entire life, so I feel comfortable caring for the people in my community. However, I plan on moving to the U.S Virgin Islands or Puerto Rico in the next 5-6 years. I have traveled the islands many times and learned about the different cultures, but I feel there is so more I will need to learn if I plan to resume nursing when I move. Caring for someone from a different culture requires a deeper understanding of their culture that can be acquired from a vacation.

I hope to learn about how to identify any bias or stereotypes I may have and bring myself a better understanding of cultural sensitivity. I feel that I do provide the same level of care regardless of the culture and background of an individual, but there are likely things that I am overlooking that if I was aware of them would lend to a better patient experience and health outcome.

References

Andrews, M., Boyle, J., & Collins, J. (2016). Transcultural concepts in nursing care (8th ed.). Wolters Kluwer.

Maier-Lorentz, M. (2008). Transcultural nursing: its importance in nursing practice. J Cult Divers, 15(1), 37–43.

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This is an excellent outlook on the topic of transcultural nursing. I absolutely love your focus on it being “patient-centered care,” yet in greater detail. I feel like this is quite accurate when discussing this form of nursing and what it truly implicates! I think that it is awesome that you hope to move to either the Virgin Islands or Puerto Rico within the next 5-6 years. If I may ask, what influenced this decision? I have heard many nurses express their desire to work as a travel-nurse, but this is my first time hearing someone share their passion to move to the Islands permanently as a nurse. Especially in your situation, you have lived in the same area all of your life, making such a move would be a drastic change, but I am sure that you would enjoy the community and the care you would provide. Thank you for being so open and honest as I look forward to learning more about transcultural nursing along with you!

“A rise in multicultural identities, with people expecting their cultural beliefs, values, and ways of life to be understood and respected by nurses and other healthcare providers.” (Leininger and McFarland, 2006). This statement is where we are currently living as far as the world is concerned and because there are a more diverse type of people both as patients and as healthcare providers, we are seeing that many people are identifying themselves in ways in which are new to many of us. Transcultural nursing to me means having the ability to understand and serve individuals of different cultural backgrounds to include other healthcare providers. I am taking this course to better understand my part in ensuring optimal care for patients and showing sensitivity toward my fellow healthcare providers, to include understanding what may be offensive to them and how to properly react when certain situations arise. In the next 8 weeks I would like to broaden my knowledge of how people from different backgrounds perceive each other and themselves and how those perceptions can affect the way they are treated within the healthcare community. Because I work with such a diverse type of people, I hope that this course will allow me to grow as a nurse and allow me to assess and help in situations that may hinder my practice.

Reference:

Andrews, M., Boyle, J., & Collins, J. (2016). Transcultural concepts in nursing care (8th ed.). Wolters Kluwer.

I agree with your statement that we are living in a time of increased in population diversity, thus forcing us to conform and treat people according to their cultural belief. In healthcare, we encounter nurses, doctors, patients, and families with different cultural backgrounds, and it becomes challenging to healthcare providers to provide care especially when there is already a language barrier. As a patient cultural differences can hinder their ability to be compliant to treatment plan because they may not necessarily understand the plan of care or they may not believe in certain treatments. As nurses we strive to provide culturally competent care thus educating ourselves to transcultural nursing is necessary to be able to understand each of our differences. According to Transcultural Nursing Society, “culturally competent care can only occur when culture care values are known and serve as the foundation for meaningful care”.

Transcultural Nursing. (2021). Transcultural Nursing Society: Many cultures one world. Retrieved from https://tcns.org/

Transcultural nursing is becoming an increasingly essential aspect of healthcare today as our nation’s population grows more and more diverse in cultures. It is an essential role in a nurses job to recognize, acknowledge and appreciate cultural differences in healthcare. As a nurse in a very diverse state as California, I think it is imperative that nurses do their best to be culturally competent. Being culturally competent to be does not mean that I know every culture’s practice to the finest detail but that I try my best to learn and appreciate another individual’s culture as it has been shown to improve patient outcomes in healthcare settings (Nursing2005, 2005).

I decided to take this course because when I began my first job as a new grad June 2020 at a small hospital in West LA, I came to realize I was not as culturally competent as I would like to be. In this area of LA, it had such a different diversity of cultures than that I grew up in. I took this course because I would like to be more prepared and knowledgeable to better advance my patient centered care and provide my patients with the best care I can. The worst thing I could do as a nurse is to offend my patient and do so not knowingly. Things like space, distance, eye contact, body language, punctuality, touch, and diet are so different culture to culture. For example, in Asian Americans, touching the head of another may be interpreted as rude as some believe that is where the spirit resides (Nursing2005, 2005). In the following weeks of this course, I hope to learn more about different cultures and how to better treat my patients in the clinical setting to create an environment in which they can heal the best.

Reference:

Chamberlain College of Nursing (2021). Concepts of Transcultural Nursing: Week 1 Lesson. Downers Grove, IL: Online Publication.

Nursing2005. Understanding Transcultural Nursing. (2005). Nursing 2005, 35, 14-23. doi:https://journals.lww.com/nursing/Fulltext/2005/01001/UNDERSTANDING_TRANSCULTURAL_NURSING.2.aspx

I agree with you. I am a CM for an insurance company and work with waiver recipients. My members are very diverse. Some cannot even speak English and need translators, some will refuse to have home delivered meals because of their diet restrictions of their culture or religion. Many will not like to have staff from an agency that they perceive as strangers in their homes. Or they want their family to care for them because the prayer times and rituals before prayer time are time consuming and they don’t feel an outsider would understand or take the time.

These are all things that have to be considered when meeting the day to day needs of the members in the community. I am hoping this course will also help me to understand my members and provide better care to them.

Indeed, transcultural nursing is becoming an essential aspect in current healthcare setting and practice environment due to increasing diversity in the country’s population. Transcultural nursing is a unique specialty that implores one to focus on global cultures and comparative cultural caring, health and nursing phenomena. As a transcultural nurse, one looks to seeking solutions from a global perspective within the nursing area. The main focus of the specialty is to offer culturally congruent nursing care (Chamberlain College of Nursing, 2021). To be an effective transcultural nurse, one should have the ability to understand and appreciate cultural differences and how they impact healthcare value, beliefs and customs. As observed, transcultural nursing is not about attaining cultural competence and being familiar with patients’ religious customs, beliefs and values but also understanding their perspectives and unique customs (McFarland & Wehbe-Alamah, 2018). Transcultural nurses should understand different aspects of illnesses, healing, diseases and deaths from different cultural perspectives.

Deciding to specialize in transcultural nursing demonstrates the need to focus on provision of culturally sensitive and inclusive care for patients from diverse backgrounds. As you observe, nurses should ensure that they understand the culture of their patients and respect their beliefs, values, and customs since they impact care delivery. Things like space, body language, eye contact and distance as well as punctuality and touch are critical aspects in delivery of culturally sound care to patients from different social and economic backgrounds (McFarland & Wehbe-Alamah, 2018). As patient advocates and frontline healthcare workers, nurses have a responsibility to offer patient-centered care that incorporates different cultural aspects to attain optimal outcomes and better patient experience.

References

Chamberlain College of Nursing (2021). Concepts of Transcultural Nursing: Week 1 Lesson.

Downers Grove, IL: Online Publication.

McFarland, M. R & Wehbe-Alamah, H. B. (2018). Leininger’s Transcultural Nursing: Concepts,

Theories, Research & Practice, Fourth Edition. McGraw H

According to Kılınc and Altun (2018), transcultural nursing refers to a substantive nursing area that focuses on the global cultural beliefs, practices, needs, and preferences of individuals or groups of different or similar cultures. The specialty combines nursing (care) and anthropology (culture). With the soaring multicultural population, nurses must offer holistic and individualized care to their patients. One of the cornerstones of culturally congruent healthcare is the ability to be aware of the cultural trends while respecting each patient’s values and beliefs (Kaihlanen, Hietapakka, and Heponiemi, 2019). Overall, the essay presents the significance and the need to promote transcultural nursing with the health facility.

Why Did You Decide to Take This Course?

Due to the ever-increasing multicultural American population, transcultural nursing has become a key component in the healthcare. The United States is more diverse than 10 years ago; the population of Asian, Latino, and African Americans has been growing steadily, while that of the Whites has declined (Vespa, Armstrong, & Medina, 2018). The U.S Census Bureau projects that by 2060, 60% of the population will be made of persons from ethnicities other than the non-Hispanic Whites. Therefore, as a future professional health worker, I will need to attain cultural competency knowledge to appreciate and recognize cultural differences in healthcare beliefs, values, and customs. With this knowledge, I will be able to provide culturally sensitive care to patients, particularly those who are refugees, immigrants, or migrants. Also, the knowledge will help determine if, for example, the health beliefs and values of a patient relate to the cause of their illness.

What you would like to learn in the 8 weeks?

In these weeks, I intend to learn transcultural constructs, framework, and theories underpinning the school of nursing. I would be happy to learn how social determinants of health affect health disparities and how healthcare systems influence their ability to provide healthcare to a culturally diverse population. I also look forward to understanding the various cultures within the American healthcare, and how the behavior of a patient is influenced by their cultural backgrounds. For instance, one patient may consider your sitting close to them as an invasion to their personal space, while another view it as an expression of caring and warmth. Lastly, I am eager to learn on the best way to avoid stereotyping when handling a patient with different cultural preferences and beliefs.

How do you hope this course will help you in your clinical practices?

The course will provide me with the necessary transcultural knowledge to be sensitive to patients’ values, customs, needs, and preference from different cultures. The theoretical knowledge that will be acquired in this course will help me relate cultural competencies with evidence-based practice, enabling me to become a competent, culturally-based nursing practitioner in the future. As a result of this, I will be able to give my patients holistically and culturally congruent care. Transcultural nurses have been found to offer excellent services to their patients than their counterparts who do not adopt the practice (Tosun and Sinan, 2020).

Conclusion

Transcultural nursing is important in daily nursing clinical practices. Culturally congruent healthcare is not a privilege but a basic human right. Therefore, the caregivers must recognize the preferences and values of their patients derived from their culture. The inclusion of cultural contents in nursing curricula is of utmost significance. The curriculum should instill in students an appreciation for cultural differences in nursing. Health facilities such as hospitals should provide nurses with in-service programs on cultural competency.

What does Transcultural Nursing mean to me?

Transcultural Nursing to me, means that I am acknowledging everyone is different and incorporating their differences into their care to create a better outcome. Each of us have a complex history that makes up who we are. As a nurse, it is imperative that I respect those that I serve. If I acknowledge and gear treatment toward the person served needs, then I am fostering an environment that creates rapport in which a client will have a better outcome. Transcultural nursing is a necessity for nurses to provide the best care possible.

Why did I take this course?

I took this course because I have always enjoyed learning about different cultures. I understand that my interactions with clients make a difference in their care. If I am not receptive to their differences, and I dismiss their culture because it is not my own, the client will have a less than desirable experience.

What do I want to learn in eight weeks?

In the next eight weeks, I want to refresh on understanding everyone’s differences and how I can make changes to be a better nurse.

How will this course help me in my clinical?

This course will help me by reinforcing the importance of learning about one another and understanding the differences I can make in the care that I provide.

References

Andrews, M.M., Boyles, J.S., & Collins, J.W. (2020). Transcultural Concepts in Nursing Care (eighth edition). Wolters Kluwer. Murcia, S.E., & Lopez, L. (2016). The experience of nurses in care for culturally diverse families: A qualitative meta-synthesis. NCBI. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4964299/Links to an external site.

What Does Transcultural Nursing mean to me?

According to Leininger, Transcultural nursing has been defined as a legitimate and formal area of study, research, and practice, focused on culturally based care beliefs, values, and practices to help cultures or subcultures maintain or regain their health (wellbeing) and face disabilities or death in culturally congruent and beneficial caring ways (Leininger, 1970, 1978, 1991). Transcultural nursing to me means, providing patient care with with no prejudice, racism, or discrimination. It also means to be unbiased and to understand that all of my patients are different and could have different beliefs and as a caregiver I should be aware of the differences and take it into consideration when assessing my patients for the first time. As a caregiver I should build my care plan and education plan on the patients specific needs and beliefs with out judgment. Being a nurse for only one year and the difference of care I learned to give using culturally congruent nursing care prior to this class is essential to every caregivers future.

Why did I decide to take this course?

I Decided to take this class because it seemed the best fit for my future as a caregiver. After the first week, I am so excited to see what else I will be learning. I never sat and really thought about how much there is to learn about different cultures from religions to disabilities, languages and beliefs etc. I am sure 8 weeks is no where near enough time to take all this in. I look forward to see what other steps I could take to continue my education in transcultural nursing.

Explain what I would like to learn in the next 8 weeks?

I would like to learn on how starting my assessments using organizational Cultural Competence. According to the National Center for Cultural Competence, cultural competence requires that organizations have certain type of characteristics (Andrews, 2016, p.46). I think taking this course will definitely help me improve in my career and in my everyday life as a Nurse. It is always fun when your learning about something that is intriguing and useful in my day to day life.

References

Andrews, M., Boyle, J., & Collins, J. (2016). Transcultural concepts in nursing care (8th ed.). Wolters Kluwer. (pg. 46)

Leininger R, Madeleine, PhD, LHD, DS, RN & CTN, FAAN. (1999). What Is Transcultural Nursing and Culturally Competent Care?. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 10(1), 9. Retrieved from http://ovidsp.ovid.com/ovidweb.cgi?T=JS&PAGE=reference&D=ovftc&NEWS=N&AN=00002045-199901000-00005Links to an external site.

NR 394 Discussion Diversity in Nursing