Premium Essay

Ethnicity In Nursing

Submitted By
Words 1100
Pages 5
In culturally diverse societies, like the UK, where various factors, such as culture, ethnicity and races come together, for nurses it is imperative to be aware of how these factors might have an effect on their practice. Hence, through this essay the concepts of culture, race and ethnicity will be explored. Moreover, how to face these challenges during practice developing transcultural and cross-cultural communication and showing professionalism, cultural competence and cultural response will be considered followed by two cultural issues, nursing culture and patient culture.
Culture is a set of presumptions, values, ideas, expectations, meanings, norms and practices that have been transmitted and acquired throughout generations (Fernando, …show more content…
Currently, there are five major racial groups Native American, African, Caucasian, Pacific Islander and Asian (Risch et al., 2002). Moreover, ethnicity is related to the belonging or attachment to a specific group as a result of social strings, such as religion or cultural background of that group (Holland and Hogg, 2010). Additionally, culture and ethnicity tend to be related, as in their definitions concepts such as customs, habits, background and beliefs, are explained. However, these terms do not cover the extensive culture definition (Marzilli, 2014). Thus, it is significant to know culture, race and ethnicity concepts to understand how individuals communicate between themselves, to assess them according to their background and to treat them in a professional and an equal …show more content…
This enables nurses to understand the linguistic needs and beliefs of a particular patient and to raise the awareness of cultural diversity (Andrews and Boyle, 2012; McClimens, Brewster, and Lewis, 2014). When a patient, who does not have any knowledge of English language, comes to the hospital to receive treatment, nurses face a challenge about how to assess the patient. The Standard of Competence for Registered Nurses (Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), 2004) establishes that nurses must use a variety of communication skills, such as non-verbal communication (interpreting body language or eye contact) or request a language interpreter. Furthermore, they must acknowledge their values and assumptions and how this might affect their communication with others to ensure the quality of the care given. Alternatively, Andrews and Boyle (2012) suggest that cross-cultural communication allows nurses to have broader knowledge and comprehension of how individuals correspond and communicate with one another. When using cross-cultural communication, nurses should avoid using “technical jargon, slang and colloquial expressions” that prevent nurses to have fluent communication with patients. Upon reflexion, it argues that a level of cultural diversity awareness has been gained to become more sensitive and to improve the ability to deal with various

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Nursing

...Culture and Ethnicity Arevalo-Flechas, L. (2009). Diversity: From the White House to “Our House”. AORN Journal. 89(2), 261-264. Diversity in the government with the continuous mass immigration creates a new environment in which the nursing practice should conform and adjust its standard to provide invaluable care to everyone. This article discusses the role of perioperative nurses in providing excellent care to culturally diverse population. This can be done through cross-cultural training and tools to assist in developing skills such as self awareness, communication and new learning. Culturally and Linguistically Appropriately Standards of Service (CLAS) have been created to guide health care agencies in better communication thus better patient satisfaction. There is also the use of cultural broker who acts as an advocate on behalf of another individual from a different culture has gained much attention and greatly enhances communication. Providing in-service to staff, use of interpreters and cultural brokers and implementation of standard collection of data on race and ethnicity creates readiness to deliver culturally competent health services. Lowe, J., Archibald, C. (2009). Cultural Diversity: The Intention of Nursing. Nursing Forum. 44(1), 11-18. This article addresses cultural diversity in nursing and focuses on competence in providing appropriate nursing care to a growing culturally/ethnically diverse patient...

Words: 526 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Nursing's Public Image

...public view nursing? From its earliest beginnings, the profession of nursing has revolved around human needs. One of the greatest strengths of nursing is the extensive range of opportunities and options that it has to offer. There are many different levels of practice, specialties, and there are always opportunities to advance in the nursing profession. With nurses playing a major role in designing the new healthcare system in the United States, now there is an even greater need for a positive public image of nursing. However, nursing's contributions to healthcare may be transparent or even ignored by the public and the media. The media has an immense effect on the perceptions of society. Therefore, any misrepresentation of the nursing profession by the media may negatively affect nursing's public image. As nurses, we have a responsibility to the entire nursing profession to protect our image, and take action to ensure that the public is not mislead by the media. Over time, there have been many images of nurses purported by the media. Nurses play roles in movies, television series, plays, books, and in reality they may be seen on the news or in newspapers. Some suggest that these media portrayals are solely to blame for the public's misconceptions or stereotypes regarding nursing. In actuality, the public image of nursing has evolved as the nursing profession has evolved, even before media influence was a factor. In the late 1800's through early 1900's, nursing was viewed as...

Words: 1551 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Maternity

...Running head: CULTURALLY SENSITIVE NURSING CARE Culturally Sensitive Nursing care In Maternity For Japanese Patients March 28, 2012 Abstract Nurses need to be culturally congruent in order to offer culturally, competent care to their clients. To be able to care for Japanese women, during the prepartum, intrapartum, postpartum phases and for her newborn infant, it is necessary to have knowledge and continued education of the patient and her family’s culture and customs. The US Census Bureau accounts that approximately 1.3 million individuals of Japanese descent reside in the United State (US census bureau 2009). In the Japanese culture, the main focus for men is to support their family financially; therefore it is the woman’s job to care for their household. During the pregnancy and postpartum period, Japanese women will benefit from the care, support and education given by their nurse. Culturally Sensitive Nursing care in Maternity for Japanese Patients The nurse’s cultural knowledge and understanding of the patient’s religion, customs, beliefs, and nutritional preference, are crucial tools for successful communication. Teaching and implication of nursing intervention are also very important during: prenatal, postnatal and motherhood stages during her hospital stay and in the community setting. Japanese are taught the English language from the age of six; therefore...

Words: 1520 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Emerging Standards of Care

...Emerging Standards of Care: Cultural Competence in a Long Term Care / Skilled Nursing Facility Susan Mateo NUR/531 Tracey Lane Emerging Standards of Care: Cultural Competence in a Long Term Care / Skilled Nursing Facility Of the many challenges facing the nursing profession, cultural competence is an area of great need across all settings from educators, to students, bedside nurses, nurse managers, and nursing leadership. Cultural competence for a given entity, be it an educational institution or healthcare facility, is best measured by an appraisal of that entity, with respect to the cultural diversity of its staff and customers, along with its policies, procedures and actual practices. The focus of this paper is the evaluation of the cultural competence of a local long term care / skilled nursing facility (LTC/SNF) located in Harker Heights, Texas. The inability to access numerical or percentage totals of the demographics of either the staff or residents directly resulted in observational assessments by this writer as the basis for this evaluation. The observations took place during the clinical experiences of students from the local public school district’s CNA course. Based on the various readings associated with the nursing 531 course, a definition of cultural competence includes several components. One of the most easily understood and incorporated is Campinha-Bacote's model of cultural competence. This model consists of five concepts, namely: cultural desire...

Words: 2780 - Pages: 12

Premium Essay

Academic Performance

...GOFF, ANNE-MARIE, Ph.D. Stressors, Academic Performance, and Learned Resourcefulness in Baccalaureate Nursing Students. (2009) Directed by Dr. David F. Ayers. 135 pp. Despite extensive research establishing that stress affects problem-solving ability and coping, and leads to decreased learning, academic performance, and retention in nursing students, a paucity of research explores specific factors that could enhance these learning processes and outcomes. This explanatory correlational study examines the mediating effect of learned resourcefulness, the ability to regulate emotions and cognitions, on the relationships of stressors—both personal and academic—to academic performance in baccalaureate nursing students. Gadzella’s Student-life Stress Inventory (SSI) and Rosenbaum’s Self-Control Scale (SCS), a measure of learned resourcefulness, were administered to 53 junior level baccalaureate nursing students (92.5% female; 84.9% Caucasian; 9.4% African-American or Black) at a large urban university in North Carolina. High levels of both personal and academic stressors were revealed, but were not significant predictors of academic performance (p = .90). Age was a significant predictor of academic performance (p < .01) and both males and African-American/ Black participants had higher learned resourcefulness scores on the SCS than females and Caucasians. Total stress scores on the Student-life Stress Inventory showed that male participants perceived less stress (N = 4, M = 116.5)...

Words: 31374 - Pages: 126

Premium Essay

Heritage Assessment

...health restoration of a person’s cultural beliefs and values (Spector, 2006). This assessment helps aid in providing quality patient care in that it helps to meet and respect the needs of different types of people and their respective backgrounds (Spector, 2002). This particular paper serves to compare and contrast the ethnicities of Indian, Caucasian, and Arabic families using health maintenance, health protection, and health restoration as evaluation markers. The purpose was to identify and isolate different groups of people and their unique health practices and traditions that were based off their heritage or background. An assessment of these ethnicities led to several discoveries that I believe could truly improve our methods of health care. Cultural awareness is an essential part of life, especially in this country that is considered to be the melting pot of the world. Cultural awareness can be defined as understanding and appreciation the difference between oneself and people of other backgrounds and cultural beliefs (Shen, 2004). Cultural competence is a term used to refer to awareness and skill acquired to be able to care for people of different ethnicities and cultures (Purnell, 2002). The heritage assessment tool serves as a questionnaire of sorts that is used by personnel in management or care-providing positions in order to gain a better familiarity of a patient/client’s values before providing care (Spector, 2002). These can include questions about everything from...

Words: 1093 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Diversity in Nursing

...The Significance of Diversity in Nursing Diversity in the world of nursing is crucial in order to provide sufficient care to all individuals. Nurses have to be able to provide medical needs to all types of people, regardless of personal beliefs and customs. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the relevance of diversity and nursing including the significance it can have on patients receiving nursing care, problems with the low minority population in nursing, and a summary of the generational aspect of diversity in nursing. Importance of Diversity in the Workplace Across the nation, as the diversity of the population persistently expands, it is paramount the nursing workforce mirrors this evolvement to “effectively meet patient care needs and ensure cultural competency” (Mason, Leavitt, & Chaffee, 2014, p. 378). One important reason for nurses to study the effect of diversity is to improve the community and help promote the need for social change. There is a connection between the absence of variation in the workplace and health inconsistencies. If more nurses were to work with the indigent and minority populations, this “improves access among underrepresented groups” and would help with the discrepancy in health care (Huston, 2014, p. 137). Competent transcultural nursing care impacts the quality of care a patient receives by understanding the client’s needs holistically. Clark (2014) states that humility or the ability to learn from others and having an open mind is needed...

Words: 1284 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Global and Cultural Awareness

...Cultural Awareness In the majority of the health care systems in the world, extensive processes of international collaboration and migration present the profession of nursing with an escalating challenge in terms of cultural diversity. Ideally, cultural awareness in health care provision entails being sensitive to the different values and perceptions of members of a given community. This is because with the rise in the world population, the percentage relating to minorities has been steadily on the rise and thus the relevance of understanding the aspect of global and cultural awareness. In essence, the adoption of a culturally competent system of health care is important as this ensures that health care professionals remain sensitive to the existent differences between groups, not only in accordance to the outward behavior but also to attitudes relating to emotional events like pain, disability and depression (Christine & Karren, 2013). In this paper I will discuss the scope of global and cultural awareness in relation to the health care system by depicting the various aspects that surround the scope of global and cultural awareness. Factors of culture affecting an individual’s health status The various cultural factors that may have an impact on an individual’s health status are literacy levels, ethnicity, traditions, and health disparities. Literacy levels bear a significant influence on an individual’s health status with the issue affecting many people in the world who...

Words: 929 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Rn to Bsn

...Nursing is a dynamic profession and life long learning is essential for nurses to stay current with the increased complexity of the healthcare needs of today and into the future.In other words, the needs of our patients are changing, as we must change in order to be prepared to better serve that need. Nursing has a long history of formal education which moved out of hospitals and into colleges and universities early last century. The associate degree level of nursing was developed out of a need to produce nurses in response to a shortage during and following World War II. It was a proposed as a temporary solution to a shortage to a shortage but was not intended to replace the professional level of nursing education. The ADN program require about 2 yrs for the student to complete. The Adn nurses are associate degree in nursing, ADN nurses have clinical skills and hands on basic skills but they lack both management and leadership skills with in the nursing field. Additionally they lack research skills used in nursing as well as knowledge on informatics the use of technological advances in enhancing quality medical delivery. ADN gives you the fundamentals of nursing practices. They basic theory, skills, competencies knowledge of scope of practice and legalities for licensure and the essential general education core that is necessary as a foundation [English, psychology, biology chemistry, anatomy and physiology , etc].it gives you the bare minimum knowledge required...

Words: 1505 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Nursing Subculture

...Nursing is one of the many subcultures that plays an extremely vital role in society and the healthcare system. Nursing is the profession of observing symptoms, reactions, and progress of patients; administering medications; promotion of health; prevention of diseases; and rehabilitating patients of all ages, ethnicities, and communities. Although the nursing subculture has different values and philosophy about the practices of the profession, many nurses take care of their patients according to their medical knowledge, norms, and ethics. In this essay, I will discuss the history and culture of nursing as well as the beliefs, values, and behaviors of nurses and how they are viewed in society. The history of professional nursing began with...

Words: 1309 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Transcultural Nursing

...The Role of Transcultural Nursing Nur 502-Theoretical Basis for Nursing Brigette Lander February 20, 2014 Abstract The core of nursing at its simplest application is to cause no harm and restore a person to health when possible. For years now, nurses have been working to close the health disparity gap and become culturally competent for our “melting pot” of minority cultures. Forbes magazine (2010) said only 18% of Americans speak a foreign language, compared to 53% of Europeans and growing numbers of others around the world who communicate in a foreign language. The 2007 census bureau lists 74 countries that have a large percentage of their population who speak English. Language barriers alone can have poor results for nursing care of culturally diverse populations. That being the case, nursing theory developed by nurses in the United States has obvious flaws. This paper will take a multifaceted look at the problems nursing in the United States face when caring for ethnic minorities without the use of culturally competent nursing theory based upon the patients cultural identity. By taking a look at a Pakistani patient, readers will have an understanding of how we unknowingly fail to provide adequate nursing care. The Role of Transcultural Nursing The United States has always deemed this country superior to all other countries in the world in all manners of living with medicine and nursing not being an exception. We have held close to the idea that all other countries...

Words: 2461 - Pages: 10

Premium Essay

Chapter 4 Peds

...Health Promotion MULTIPLE CHOICE 1. Which term best describes a group of people who share a set of values, beliefs, practices, social relationships, law, politics, economics, and norms of behavior? a.|Race| b.|Culture| c.|Ethnicity| d.|Social group| ANS: B Culture is a pattern of assumptions, beliefs, and practices that unconsciously frames or guides the outlook and decisions of a group of people. A culture is composed of individuals who share a set of values, beliefs, and practices that serve as a frame of reference for individual perceptions and judgments. Race is defined as a division of mankind possessing traits that are transmissible by descent and are sufficient to characterize it as a distinct human type. Ethnicity is an affiliation of a set of persons who share a unique cultural, social, and linguistic heritage. A social group consists of systems of roles carried out in groups. Examples of primary social groups include the family and peer groups. PTS: 1 DIF: Cognitive Level: Remember REF: 44 TOP: Integrated Process: Nursing Process: Assessment MSC: Area of Client Needs: Psychosocial Integrity 2. Which term best describes the emotional attitude that one’s own ethnic group is superior to others? a.|Culture| b.|Ethnicity| c.|Superiority| d.|Ethnocentrism| ANS: D Ethnocentrism is the belief that one’s way of living and behaving is the best way. This includes the emotional attitude that the values, beliefs, and perceptions of one’s ethnic group...

Words: 3438 - Pages: 14

Free Essay

Statistics

...knowing when the might need to refer the patient for genetic counseling. I found it interesting that recently nursing and consumer organizations have identified a number of competencies that needs to be part of nursing curricula and continuing education. 2. While comparing Arkansas counties on infant mortality I found that Sebastian, Crawford, Washington, and Benton counties are very close in rate ratio for mortality. Sebastian – 7.3 Crawford – 8.2 Washington – 7.0 Benton – 6.5 I did look at the rate ratio for a rural county in Arkansas and the rate for mortality was higher. I feel that this is due to the fact that there are not a lot of healthcare professionals in the county and most live at least an hour a way from the nearest hospital. Lee – 20.1 I also feel that women without health insurance have a higher rate of infant mortality due to the fact that most do not have good prenatal care. While the first 4 counties on my list have a rate ratio of 18.0 without insurance, Lee county residents are at 26.6 without insurance. When comparing ethnicities, African American women had the highest rate of infant mortality with a rate ratio of 13.31 and Hispanic women from Central or South America had the lowest rate of 4.57. The United States as a whole has a rate of 2.37 with Wisconisin as having one of the highest rates. In the US unmarried mothers of all ethnicity had one of the highest rates due to the fact that prenatal care is very expensive. World statistics show...

Words: 410 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Nursing Fundamentals

...foundations and history of nursing provide a way to show just how important change and evolving something for the better can be. Nursing has come a long way and change is important to better the career and the outcomes for patients. The dynamics of the workplace and nursing staff have since evolved from the foundation. The education involved in nursing has made major changes. The treatments, equipment, and technology used from the beginning to present day has also changed and improved. This is why we research and learn ways to better nursing education, treatments, equipment, and technology. We should shrive to better nursing as nurses ourselves. We all benefit from moving forward with change. Nurses began as one of the lowest status in society. This was a job for those who could find income in no other way. Those commonly referred to as “undesirables” working as nurses were the beginning of a lengthy timeline to end with a career that now holds respect of many. Now the career of nursing includes females as well as males and from all ethnicities and races. The education process in these early nursing times did not exist. It evolved with the help of several nursing leaders. Most commonly know is Florence Nightingale. She worked to change the sanitary conditions of hospital and advance education for nursing. Today there is several levels of education of nursing. Nursing degrees include associate and baccalaureate degrees where one can advance to nursing doctoral degrees. Treatments...

Words: 476 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Practies of Nursing

...Journal of Transcultural Nursing http://tcn.sagepub.com/ Standards of Practice for Culturally Competent Nursing Care : 2011 Update Marilyn K. Douglas, Joan Uhl Pierce, Marlene Rosenkoetter, Dula Pacquiao, Lynn Clark Callister, Marianne Hattar-Pollara, Jana Lauderdale, Jeri Milstead, Deena Nardi and Larry Purnell J Transcult Nurs 2011 22: 317 DOI: 10.1177/1043659611412965 The online version of this article can be found at: http://tcn.sagepub.com/content/22/4/317 Published by: http://www.sagepublications.com On behalf of: Transcultural Nursing Society Additional services and information for Journal of Transcultural Nursing can be found at: Email Alerts: http://tcn.sagepub.com/cgi/alerts Subscriptions: http://tcn.sagepub.com/subscriptions Reprints: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.nav Permissions: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav Citations: http://tcn.sagepub.com/content/22/4/317.refs.html >> Version of Record - Sep 26, 2011 What is This? Downloaded from tcn.sagepub.com by Marty Douglas on September 27, 2011 412965 ouglas et al.Journal of Transcultural Nursing TCN22410.1177/1043659611412965D Commentary Journal of   ranscultural Nursing T 22(4) 317­–333 © The Author(s) 2011 Reprints and permission: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1043659611412965 http://tcn.sagepub.com Standards of Practice for Culturally Competent Nursing Care: 2011 Update Marilyn K. Douglas, DNSc, RN, FAAN1, Joan...

Words: 12731 - Pages: 51