Week 8 Discussion: Reflection on Transcultural Nursing (Graded)

Hello Professor and Class, 

Welcome to the last week of this semester and for me the last semester of my BSN program. Thank you for being a part of this journey m

Introduction

Training and educating a nurse for present and future assignments can be a daunting task since the trainees need to be equipped with the right kinds and combination of skills that should enable them to excel at offering the best care to the patients. An arguably more challenging task is translating or transferring the lesson learned in a learning environment into practice where the patients must be given the kind of needed care following set standards and procedures (Svavarsdottir et al., 2015). For some time now, we have been learning about transcultural nursing and cultural competency, two nursing contents that are essential in molding more complete nurses. The content already learned about transcultural nursing has added invaluable knowledge to my future nursing practice tool kit. Therefore  I will expound on how I will implement the already learned lessons into my future nursing practice and illuminate how I will incorporate cultural competence and diversity awareness in both the current and future nursing assignments.

Implementation of Lessons Learned About Transcultural Nursing

Transcultural nursing has, in the last years, been a key aspect of healthcare. It is worth noting that its importance is even growing more with the ever-multiplying multicultural population in the USA. Therefore, the onus is with the nurses to ensure that they are in a position to overcome the challenge of multi-ethnic and multicultural issues and offer the best holistic and individualized care to their patients, irrespective of their backgrounds (Giger & Haddad, 2020). The first way of implementing the lessons is by recognizing and appreciating cultural differences in customs, beliefs, and healthcare values among the patients within my area of operation. Such a move will enable me to develop a strong nurse-patient relationship with my patients, creating an enabling environment for empathy and care, hence better patient outcomes and job satisfaction on my side. 

I will also leverage the knowledge acquired when developing holistic care plans for my patients. Holistic care should address a patient’s spiritual, emotional, social, psychological, and physical needs. I will use the lessons learned to identify and meet my patient’s holistic care needs and offer as much individualized care as possible. The individualized care plans will have to account for my patients’ cultural differences, therefore formulating a care plan for my patients will have to be a process that takes care of their cultural values and beliefs hence better care.

Incorporating Cultural Competence and Diversity Awareness

After learning about cultural competence and diversity awareness, the next will be to integrate and embed the same in both my current assignments and in my ideal future roles. Studies have shown that some cases of patient harm and lack of better care arise from language barriers and incompetence.  Some of such harms include insufficient medication adherence, adverse medicine interactions, negative medication responses, missed screenings, and misdiagnosis. In my practice, one of the aspects of cultural competence I will want to be alive to is communication which is enhanced by understanding what the patient says, what he/she wants and doesn’t want. Having learned what is needed for cultural competence, I will strive to learn the languages of the minority ethnic groups within the catchment areas of my operation. Learning the languages will help me better communicate with the patients better and learn more about their cultural beliefs and values, and attitudes towards medication and patient care. I will then be able to make individualized care plans.

Conclusion

The lesson on transcultural nursing and cultural competency is a springboard for more holistic patient care without ethnic and racial limits. By applying the lessons learned, I believe I will be a better nurse who serves and treats patients with empathy, care, and respect with the aim of providing the best patient care.

References

Giger, J. N., & Haddad, L. (2020). Transcultural nursing-e-book: Assessment and intervention. Elsevier Health Sciences. Doi: 10.1111/jnu.12108Links to an external site.

Svavarsdottir, E. K., Sigurdardottir, A. O., Konradsdottir, E., Stefansdottir, A., Sveinbjarnardottir, E. K., Ketilsdottir, A., … & Guðmundsdottir, H. (2015). The process of translating family nursing knowledge into clinical practice. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 47(1), 5-15.

Professor and class,

This has been one of the most beneficial classes in my journey to complete my BSN.  I have been a nurse for 23 years and working on my BSN on and off for 6 years.  This is my last discussion post as I am finally done.  In the next few years, I plan on moving out of the Continental U.S.  I will likely land in one of the U.S. Virgin Islands, but I have not ruled out other locations.  My husband and I will be living on a catamaran, so I have the option to see and experience nursing in a variety of settings and locations.  Having an understanding of the importance of culture and how that impacts health and others’ perception of health is essential in providing care that I am comfortable giving and others are comfortable receiving. 

Our reading this week speaks to human trafficking its global impact.  This is something I have been aware of from a patient care aspect, but I never considered I should be concerned for my own safety if seeking employment abroad.  Definitely something to be conscious of.  Also, having an understanding that when working abroad I will be perceived as a visitor is also important to understand.  Being comfortable to ask questions about culture in order to understand what is important for delivering respectful and culturally competent care is essential.  Having a respectful curiosity about cultural beliefs will hopefully help build trust even if seen as a visitor.  I am excited for the journey ahead of me. 

Hello everyone,

I really learnt a lot this past 8 weeks. This is one of the classes I will not take for granted for it has shaped me when it comes to cultural competence. I am a new grad nurse and this class has really opened my eyes during my research projects. Where I work, we have people of different cultural background and sometimes it is difficult to understand them. Knowing the importance of culture will help me communicate with my patients better and make sure that they are also respected according to their culture.

I plan to learn more about the different cultures and also implement what I have learned so far at work. I will avoid making assumptions, I will question any assumptions I have about cultures that are not my own and make an effort to either prove or disprove the assumption and turn it into knowledge. I will also practice active listening when individuals of different racial or cultural backgrounds are involved. It’s essential for we as nurses to build trust with our patients, regardless of ethnic or racial backgrounds. However, treating culturally diverse patients require a heightened level of trust to be established, which can become even more difficult when there’s a language barrier. Determining my own strengths and weaknesses when it comes to working with people and taking care of patients who come from different cultures is probably one of the most important ways that will help improve my cultural competence.