Donna And Sacheen: A Case Study

“Health is influenced by culture and beliefs” (NRS-429V, 2011, p. 1). In order for the nurse to properly care for the patient, she must know and understand the patient’s culture. “Cultural care is a comprehensive model that includes the assessment of a client’s cultural needs, beliefs, and health care practices” (NRS-429V, 2011, p. 1). It is not enough to just know where the patient lives or where he came from. The nurse must embrace the concept of cultural competence and cultural awareness. This requires not only the awareness of the cultural beliefs and values of their patients, but also

Both articles express how important it is to be culturally self-aware and in touch with your personal beliefs, views, and morals. If you aren’t aware of what your cultural beliefs are you won’t be able to provide you patients with the cultural care and respect that they require in their recovery to become healthy again. In addition, the two articles (Newson 2009, Byrson 2012) both talk about how important it is to be open minded with people who may have a different opinions and views on certain things. If you aren’t open to treating you patients in the cultural way that they want to be treated, your patient will feel disrespected and unimportant. Therefore, their health will suffer because of your incompetence to accommodate their cultural needs. A nurse needs to be culturally self-aware, they need to know what their own personal views are first so they can understand that not everyone’s views will be the same. This means they need to be capable of being open and accepting to other people’s cultural wants and needs. By being these two things you will be able to provide people of all cultures with the respect and treatment they

As nurses, we are constantly assessing the patients we care for. Preparing for the assessment includes obtaining personal patient information that is most definitely influenced by the culture(s) that the patient is part of (Weber & Kelley, 2014). Preparing one’s self prior to assessment by setting aside personal cultural biases is also an important

The Giger and Davidhizar Transcultural Assessment Model was developed for undergraduate nursing students in 1988 by Joyce Newman Giger and Ruth Davidhizar. The assessment model provides a framework for nursing students to easily assess and provide care for patients from many different cultural backgrounds. Six cultural aspects are highlighted: communication, time, space, social organization, environmental control, and biological variations (Giger & Davidhizar, 2002).

Cultural aspects of holistic assessment is relevant in the provision of nursing care as it provides the care team with an overview of cultural needs of the patient as well as providing information in which the patients’ health problems have arisen. Culture is defined as values, beliefs, artifacts, behaviors, attitudes and customs influencing and regulating interactions between members of a social group (Stein-Parbury 2010: 91; Johnstone 2006: 67). It is the nurses responsibility to adhere to the ANMC, competency 2.3, ‘accepts individuals/groups to whom care is provided regardless of race, culture, religion, age, gender, sexual preference, physical or mental state’ (ANMC 2006, p. 4). Kozier & Erb (2012: 360) discuss that cultural sensitivity, appropriateness, competency and safety are all factors that are required to be taken into consideration so that the patient can be provided with the best possible health care. Kozier & Erb (2012: 360) also explain that conflicts in health care have been apparent due to cultural misunderstandings. An example of a cultural misunderstanding is the level of pain. In some cultures, it is normal to dramatically express ones level of pain whereas in other cultures people do

Who is the person the nurse is caring for? Where is that person from? Does this person speak English, or understand what the caregiver is saying? What is this person’s cultural background? What are the health beliefs of this person, what are their illness beliefs and practices? These questions are answered differently depending upon the person and their heritage. As healthcare providers it is important to have a broad knowledge base in regards to different cultures and people’s practices to deliver effective health care. In 2006, the population of

Throughout this paper I will be referencing the Giger and Davidhizar Transcultural Assessment Model. Communication, space, social organizations, time, environmental control, and biological variations are the six cultural dimensions of the model. Acknowledging the pertinence and utilizing the principles of a tool such as this is important when performing an assessment on your patient because of the significant effect culture has on the patient themselves and the health care plan. To quote the ANA Code of Ethics, it is our duty as nurses to, “practice with compassion and respect for the inherent dignity, worth, and uniqueness of every individual.” (American Nurses Association, 2015)

The Giger and Davidhizar cultural assessment in 1988 in response to there being only a few cultural assessment tools and increased amount of nursing students providing care to more diverse patients (Sagar, 2012, p. 57). The model has six cultural phenomena: biological variations, environmental control, time, social orientation, space, and communication. These phenomena are the basis of the model and help guide nurses through important cultural considerations.

As nurses, we adjust our care accordingly to each patient. It is vital that we not only assess our patients physically, but assess all aspects of their lives, including their cultures. For this paper I will discuss the key components of a comprehensive cultural assessment. I will also choose two of the key components and discuss my own culture and how it affects my attitude to culturally diverse care. Last, I will identify two nursing diagnoses that would relate to a patient with a culture other than my own, as well as give proper interventions.

Heritage Assessment supports national health along with the cure and prevention of a multitude of diseases (Edelaman & Mandle, 2010). Promoting the best care, the culture and beliefs of the people must be looked at. The Heritage Assessment can also evaluate the nurse, showing her where her beliefs and practices are, thus promoting a good patient outcome. This in turn will help her, him to understand other cultures without bias and prejudice. Beside culture, language is another important factor. Patients may only understand their own language or have a very limited understanding of the English language. Medical terminology can be difficult for people born in America, can you only imagine when you are here learning the language and then exposed to medical jargon. Translators, language lines,

As an Advanced Practice Nurse, one must fulfill many roles, have a duty and responsibility to meet the needs of the patients. Needs that are not just sicknesses or are that can just be seen with our eyes but can be unseen and unspoken needs such as emotional and cultural needs. It should be remembered that everyone is an individual and has a unique background, history and culture. Understanding cultural can improve healthcare quality and the patient’s healthcare experience. An Advanced Practice Nurse needs to know and understand that cultures are continually growing and evolving (Spector, 2017). It takes time to learn culture competence and develop the skills. Cultural competence is a never-ending life-time progression with the commitment to learning to become culturally

Culture competence is a quality that any nurse should have. The article that I decided to research refers to the impact that language and different cultures have on a patient’s health. It is the duty of health care professionals to attempt to learn about different cultures and to be sensitive to the way patient’s feel about their beliefs. Once the nurse understands a patient’s

The development of the Giger and Davidhizar Transcultural Assessment Model (GDTAM) came about because of nursing students’ need to provide culturally diverse care for patients. The model acknowledges that each culture is individually unique and assesses them according to six phenomena: communication, space, social organization, time, environmental control, and biological variations. In this model “nurses must use transcultural nursing knowledge as a skill and an art to provide care to diverse populations in a culturally appropriate and competent manner” (Sagar, 2012, p. 57). It goes on to discuss how the model sees cultural competence as “a dynamic process implemented by an individual or health care agency by using significant interventions based on the client’s ‘cultural

Throughout this paper I will be pulling information from the Giger and Davidhizar Transcultural Assessment Model. It is pertinent for health care workers to be familiar with this model because of the growing affects that culture has on a patient’s view of disease prevention and health restoration. This model focuses on six cultural phenomena: communication, time, space, social organization, environmental control, and biological variations. It is important for nurses to utilize this tool while performing assessments on patients because of the substantial effects that each one has on a patient’s perspective. Every person is unique and knowing that no one perspective is universal will aid the nurse in treating each patient with culturally competent care.

Nowadays, nurses not only need to know how to care of their patients, but they also must be able to care of patients from other cultures with many beliefs and values. Cultural views of individual influence the patient’s perception and decision of health and health care (Creasia & Parker, 2007). In order to care for people across different languages and cultures, nurses need to develop cultural sensitivity, knowledge, and skills.