Week 2: Cultural Awareness, Sensitivity, and Respect

Culture

Knowledge, values, practices, customs, and beliefs of a group

Properties of culture

-Dynamic, not static

-Shared, not private

-Learned, not inherited

Cross-Cultural Nursing

-any nursing encounter in which the client and nurse are from different cultures

Cultural competence

-dynamic, fluid, continuous process whereby an individual, system, or healthcare agency finds meaningful and useful care delivery strategies based on knowledge of the cultural heritage, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors of those to whom they render care

always allow a patient to do things from their culture unless

it is contraindicated

Cultural awareness

-beginning of culturally competent care

-Cultural awareness means cognizance of one's own cultural values and biases

-the process of learning from the individual about their specific cultural values, beliefs, and preferences, and the use of a cultural humility approach.

Cultural Humility

when you have an openness to learn from your clients

-Ask open-ended questions about beliefs and practices of the client and family.

-Ask about traditions. What does the client think may have caused an illness, and how has the client already tried to address it?

-It is an acknowledgment that everyone’s views are culturally influenced, that our own are not inherently better than those of our clients, and that our clients can teach us.

Cultural Safety

-helps patient preserve dignity and avoid racism

-do not force asimilliation into general culture

-how does client perceive care

Ethnocentrism

-Assumption that others believe and behave as the dominant culture does, or the belief that the dominant culture is SUPERIOR

-Can be barrier and lead to unsafe care

subculture

•Group sharing some practices, language, or other characteristics in common, within a larger society that does not share those characteristics

-rusky jews vs syrian jews

race

-genetic variation

-race is a social construct not a biological entity

Institutional Cultural Humility

-Organizations must be aware of and seek to minimize structural hindrances to cultural openness and respect.

-Nurses must be critical of the systems and policies in society that perpetuate health disparities among groups.

-Nurses must be actively critical to best promote the wellness of all their clients.

Western Biomedicine as “Cultured”

-The first imperative of cultural competence is to be competent in one's own cultural heritage.

Aspects of Culture Directly Affecting Health and Healthcare

-attribution of illness

-Diet

-Verbal communication

-Nonverbal communication

-Eye contact

-Personal space

-Style of communication

-Time orientation

-Roles

-Religion

-Folk medicine

Cultural Health Assessment are done by who?

•Individual clinicians

•Healthcare organizations

repatterning

-how you can help ppl to modify unsafe cultural behaviors to make them more safe

-adjusting culture for care

-add less salt to cultural food and find alternative spices so they can have the food and meet health needs at the same time

brokering (accomodation/negotiation)

-negotiating how do you advocate and mediate for that client.

-intervene between client culture and health care

-adjusting care for culture because cultural behavior is safe

-pt needs to pray 5x a day (safe behavior) so I will come give my meds before each prayer in order not to bother the patient)

conveying cultural sensitivity always adress

patients by last name untill told otherwise for respect. (never make assumptions)

ask pt quetsions

-what do you know about ur health

-what do you think caused this

-support systems