NR 394 Week 2 Discussion: Reflection on Cultural Awareness (Graded)

NR 394 Week 2 Discussion: Reflection on Cultural Awareness (Graded)

NR 394 Week 2 Discussion: Reflection on Cultural Awareness (Graded)

Cultural awareness goes beyond just knowing the details of another individual’s culture, but acknowledging and appreciating it. A lot of times, we subconsciously apply our cultural background onto others actions. For example, in Chinese culture, constant eye contact can be construed as defiance or “attitude” whereas in Western culture, eye contact is a sign of respect and attentiveness. So when communicating with patients, providers and healthcare teams, it is imperative we are culturally aware to prevent offending one another, improving communication for optimal patient care delivery.

An example of miscommunication that occurred as a result of cultural differences is when a coworker who was offended that a coworker was continuously barking orders at her rather than asking nicely. Because of this, when these two coworkers would work together, they would constantly have tension and argue. They were inefficient in their teamwork because they would refuse to help one another. Eventually management stepped in as mediator. The coworker who felt she was constantly barked at explained that she did not mean to offend the other coworker but she explained that in her native county, it is not the norm to say “please” to do their job because “please” implied begging. However, in the United States, the term “please” is used very freely just to be polite. This miscommunication could have been better alleviated had both partitions acknowledged the tension early on rather than let it go on for months. This simple cultural difference interfered with patient delivery for an unnecessarily extended amount of time.

It is imperative that we apply cultural awareness to communication in our current clinical practices. I understand that in the business of life and our workday it can be very easy to forget this skill, but we must do our best to uphold these standards. One way to do this is to simply ask questions. One of the ways that I accomplish this is actually through our admission process. Thankfully, we are required to ask every new patient if they have any religious or cultural practices that they would like known to staff so that we can ensure they are upheld. This simple question works wonders for many of our staff members. By simply asking the question, I believe that this can help us to avoid miscommunications that could possibly occur.

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Unfortunately, I was told by my coworker of a miscommunication that has often occurred. She is from Morocco and is of the Muslim faith. She told me that when she is out in public with her husband and they meet new people, men often attempt to shake her hand when introducing themselves. Within her cultural and religious background, this is unacceptable as women are not allowed to shake hands with men. Unfortunately, there have been times where she attempted to explain why she could not shake their hands, but the individual was offended and did not allow her to communicate her reasoning. 

This instance is very difficult to prevent as in our American culture it is almost standard to shake someones hand or hug them when greeting. With this challenge, I believe one of the best prevention methods would simply be more self-education, humility, and again asking questions. There is so much that we can learn from one another. I believe by being open-minded we can indeed grow into excellent nurses with a strong sense of cultural tact and respect. 

It is imperative that we apply cultural awareness to communication in our current clinical practices. I understand that in the business of life and our workday it can be very easy to forget this skill, but we must do our best to uphold these standards. One way to do this is to simply ask questions. One of the ways that I accomplish this is actually through our admission process. Thankfully, we are required to ask every new patient if they have any religious or cultural practices that they would like known to staff so that we can ensure they are upheld. This simple question works wonders for many of our staff members. By simply asking the question, I believe that this can help us to avoid miscommunications that could possibly occur.

Unfortunately, I was told by my coworker of a miscommunication that has often occurred. She is from Morocco and is of the Muslim faith. She told me that when she is out in public with her husband and they meet new people, men often attempt to shake her hand when introducing themselves. Within her cultural and religious background, this is unacceptable as women are not allowed to shake hands with men. Unfortunately, there have been times where she attempted to explain why she could not shake their hands, but the individual was offended and did not allow her to communicate her reasoning. 

This instance is very difficult to prevent as in our American culture it is almost standard to shake someones hand or hug them when greeting. With this challenge, I believe one of the best prevention methods would simply be more self-education, humility, and again asking questions. There is so much that we can learn from one another. I believe by being open-minded we can indeed grow into excellent nurses with a strong sense of cultural tact and respect. 

It is imperative that we apply cultural awareness to communication in our current clinical practices. I understand that in the business of life and our workday it can be very easy to forget this skill, but we must do our best to uphold these standards. One way to do this is to simply ask questions. One of the ways that I accomplish this is actually through our admission process. Thankfully, we are required to ask every new patient if they have any religious or cultural practices that they would like known to staff so that we can ensure they are upheld. This simple question works wonders for many of our staff members. By simply asking the question, I believe that this can help us to avoid miscommunications that could possibly occur.

Unfortunately, I was told by my coworker of a miscommunication that has often occurred. She is from Morocco and is of the Muslim faith. She told me that when she is out in public with her husband and they meet new people, men often attempt to shake her hand when introducing themselves. Within her cultural and religious background, this is unacceptable as women are not allowed to shake hands with men. Unfortunately, there have been times where she attempted to explain why she could not shake their hands, but the individual was offended and did not allow her to communicate her reasoning. 

This instance is very difficult to prevent as in our American culture it is almost standard to shake someones hand or hug them when greeting. With this challenge, I believe one of the best prevention methods would simply be more self-education, humility, and again asking questions. There is so much that we can learn from one another. I believe by being open-minded we can indeed grow into excellent nurses with a strong sense of cultural tact and respect. 

Hello Professor and  Class, 

Introduction

In our professional line of duty, nurses sometimes have to work with healthcare team members, providers,patients  and nurses who have completely different backgrounds, be it in terms of culture, language, or race. Such diversity may bring some problems and hinder the care delivery and process. While such problems like the language barrier may bring challenges, there are various ways that be used to over them. One of such applying cultural awareness to the nursing practice (Coleman, 2019). This paper discusses how cultural awareness can be applied to nursing practice to overcome such problems

Application of Cultural Awareness

One way of using cultural awareness to solve the issue is to try and use a plain as much as possible. For individuals who English is not their native language may struggle to understand a conversion where hard English words are used. Therefore, as a nurse, cultural awareness will ensure that he/she knows that the patient needs to understand what is going on even if English is not his/her language and use interpretation devices to communicate effectively with the patient .Appreciating the patient’s language and making adjustments so that effective communication is understood by both sender and recipients is a show of cultural awareness and a better way to care for patient. The other way is using culturally sensitive communication is another way. Culturally sensitive communication takes into account that an individual’s culture heavily influences a person’s attitudes, beliefs, and values (Coleman, 2019). As a nurse, I have come across different patient with different  cultural values, food,religion,language .I recently met an Italian speaking family. I have to teach the wife how to start i.v infusion at home when the nurse does not visit so that the patient will have continued care. I have to use a translator to translate . The visit took me more than I planned but it’s is important that the wife understands the safe techniques . She was able to understand what was going on better and what is to be done by her.

Miscommunication and Conclusion

In another experiences, we were having a multidisciplinary team working towards better patient outcomes. One of the staff speaks little English. Our supervisor was a fast speaker and was talking too fast while assigning duties. The staff did not understand the role assigned to her and had to ask again after the session. Fortunately, the staff asked early enough, and the responsibility explained better , hence leading to no adverse outcomes. Miscommunication sometimes happens without one knowing. To prevent future incidences, the speakers will have to know the composition of the audience to adjust the assent and pace of talking appropriately.

References

Coleman, D. E. (2019). Evidence based nursing practice: The challenges of health care and cultural diversity. Journal of Hospital Librarianship, 19(4), 330-338. Doi: 10.1080/15323269.2019.1661734