Please write a paragraph with your opinion based on the text bellow. Please include citations and references in case you need to used for the question:

“Cultural competence had been defined as a process, as opposed to an end point, in which the nurse continuously strives to work effectively within the cultural context of an individual, family, or community from a different cultural background” (Maurer, pg 284). It is important for nurses to understand the cultures that they may encounter, and ultimately be respectful of the patient’s cultural wishes, though they may be different beliefs than the nurse. Each nurse is faced with a different mix of cultures within their community, for example in my surrounding area, we have many people in the Amish community, Hmong community, and Jehovah’s witness community. Each of these groups would have different belief practices that the nurse would need to be aware of and assist them with carrying through with their wishes whenever possible.

Cultural preservation means the nurse works to incorporate things within the patient’s culture that will aid in their healing and ultimate feeling of peace. For example, Hmong women believe they should eat hot rice and chicken soup for 30 days post-partum, which means they may refuse to eat the hospital provided meal. The nurse caring for this patient post-partum should be aware of this cultural belief and find ways to assist this patient in following through with their wishes (Owens, 2007). Cultural accommodation fits nicely with this example because the act of eating hot rice and chicken noodle soup for a healthy post-partum mother, is doing no harm to the patient, however if the patient is not healthy, or there are other treatments the provider believes are necessary, it may be important that the nurse be able to advocate for both culture belief treatment and physician ordered treatment.

Cultural repatterning means that nurse may find cultural practices that are not always safe for the patient they are caring for, and the nurse may need to provide advocacy and teaching for a safer avenue of treatment. Our lecture gives an example of a Hispanic patient that because of his culture, he eats tortilla’s and fried food at most meals. This patient however, suffers from diabetes, so the nurse will need to provide this patient with diet options that will allow him to be healthier, but also take into account his culture and his wishes (Tools for Community Health Nursing Practice, n.d.). Cultural brokering can be considered similar to this, because the nurse is working to advocate for the patient and ensure that their wishes and needs are met. Depending on the physician’s orders, if something is ordered that the patient is not in agreement with, or there is something that the patient needs that the physician is not comfortable with, the nurse may need to intervene and act as a middle-man between patient and physician to find what’s best for the patient overall health and safety.

References

Freances A. Maurer, C. M. (2013). Community/Public Health Nursing Practice: Health for Families and Populations(5th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Saunders/Elsevier.

Owens, C. W. (2007, June 1). Hmong Cultural Profile. Retrieved from Ethnomed.org: ethnomed.org/culture/hmong/hmong-culture-profile

Tools for Community Health Nursing Practice . (n.d.). Retrieved from www.gcu.edu: lc-ugrad3.edu/learningplatform