We all live in a culturally diverse world.
Caring can be demonstrated through cultural
competency and sensitivity in health care. One of the major components to a nursing
assessment is cultural competency. In this sense, we have to study the culturally diverse
groups to understand their perspectives or beliefs about health. We can also combine our
knowledge about various aspects of patient education (e.g., respecting patient autonomy,
veracity, and etc). (Jarvis, 2020). Cultural awareness, diversity, and inclusivity in nursing
strive to combat differences in healthcare that lead to worse healthy outcomes for
disadvantaged racial and ethnic groups. The importance of cultural competence in
nursing focuses on health equity through patient-centered care, which requires seeing
each patient as a unique person. Nurses can develop the ability to tailor and explain
treatment plans according to patients' needs, which may be influenced by cultural
practices that don't fall within the parameters of conventional medicine. (Jarvis, 2020).
The cultural beliefs and understandings may influence their lifestyle, for example several
characteristics of the Chinese culture may be related to socio-psychological factors. As
the Chinese believe that proper health is a result of a body that is in homeostasis. They
also refer this theory as the “hot” and “cold” concept. In other words, a proper health is a
result of a balance between hot and cold elements in the body. In Chinese health
practices, self-care and treatment such as diet therapy, herbal remedies, and exercise are
valued as health prevention.
Cultural competence is a crucial role for the nurse practitioner. We live in a multi-
cultural environment with differing languages and belief systems. Therefore, it is
essential for the nurse to have strong competency in cultural diversity. According to
Saha et al. (2008), having competency in cultural awareness is very much the same as
what they describe as patient centeredness. In this article, the authors emphasized the
importance of being able to view healthcare in the eyes of the patients or in other words,
being able to see from a patient’s perspective.
As a nurse, the concepts of cultural awareness or competency from Jarvis et al. (2020)
and Saha et al. (2008) is very much reflective in my line of work. I see patients with
varying cultural or ethnicity and it is vital to understand as what Saha et al. (2008)
described as being able to see through their eyes. For example, I have a number of
Chinese patients that have their own distinctive holidays that they celebrate (i.e., Chinese
New Year) and I understand that these distinctive holidays should be respected. I have
other patients that follow Middle Eastern traditions. I often would make a note of these
cultural differences and create a clinical practice system that suits their preferences. It is
also important to realize that we as nurses cannot go beyond our ethical code of conduct.
Therefore, it is my opinion that we must find a balance between cultural competency and
doing what is right as nurses.
References:
Jarvis, C., Eckhardt, A., & Thomas, P. (2020). Physical Examination & Health
Assessment. Elsevier.
Saha, S, Beach, M.C., & Cooper, L.A. (2008). Patient centeredness, cultural competence
and healthcare quality. Journal of National Medical Association, 100(11), 1275-1285.
