support the argument
I work with a great group of people who are very tolerant of others, but I do remember one instance where a nurse was being insensitive to a patient’s cultural needs during her shift. The nurse was newer to the unit and was younger. This was her first nursing job and it was clear from this experience that she didn’t have a lot of experience with people of other cultures. The insensitivity took place regarding the patient’s family who was in the room. I work in an ICU and we have a rule in our unit that limits visitors to up to two people at any time in the patient’s room. This is a very soft rule and is mostly used when patients are really sick with a lot going on and family is in the way of us providing care. But for the most part this rule is not enforced and people can just come and go as they please as long as it’s not disrupting care. The patient had improved significantly the day before and was very stable and lots of cares were being stopped because they were not necessary anymore. She was going to transfer out of the ICU later that day. The patient had a lot of family and it was clear from that situation that the patient needed her family there with her. It was part of how she healed, who she was, and how she reenergized. The nurse taking care of her was trying to enforce the two-visitor rule, but family kept coming in and out like they had been the previous day because. The nurse was just getting frustrated and ended up offending the patient and family. She kept making comments out in the hall about the situation and I think that the family over heard a couple of times.
In my opinion the nurse handled this very poorly. The rule did not need to be enforced because family was not in the way or interfering with cares. They were very kind and would get out of the way whenever the nurse would enter the room. They were there supporting the patient and providing her what she needed to get better from an emotional and spiritual level. It was clear from this situation that the nurse needed some education on different cultures and how to accommodate different patient’s needs when it comes to culture. This nurse could have benefited from Leininger’s theory of cultural care diversity. This theory aims to increase cultural sensitivity and provide care that is mindful and respectful of other cultures (Smith & Parker, 2015). By providing culturally sensitive care we can help to provide holistic care and helps provide meaningful and therapeutic cares that can lead to better outcomes. Caring for people this way is critical and helps meet their essential needs (Smith & Parker, 2015).
I can help promote cultural care by being an example and showing what a difference providing this care makes and I can be an advocate and provide education opportunities on my unit to help educate the staff about this theory.
I conduced a search in EBSCOhost with the word Leininger which pulled up 101 results. The article that I reviewed is that certain cultures use other natural ways of healing. One thing that I learned was that cultural care can include these alternative ways of healing and this specific article mentioned the use of plants in treatments of certain conditions (de Almeida, Buarque, Guedes, Sette, & Cavalcanti, 2017). Obviously, this is a very broad term and for obvious reasons we can’t include certain plants in medical treatments in a medical setting, but this opens up other cultural ways of treating the patient and could allow for natural remedies that are used at home (de Almeida et al., 2107). This article provided information that was relevant to my practice today, as it deals with providing specialized care to support the needs of other cultures. It helps to show what a difference it can make to listen to your patients and their families and to accommodate their cultural needs as you are able to in order to provide holistic care.
References
de Almeida, I. J. S., Buarque, B. S., Guedes, T. G., Sette, G. C. S., & Cavalcanti, A. M. T.
W.C(2017). Scientific evidence on cultural influence in child care. Revista Da Rede de
Enfermagem Do Nordeste, 18(6), 840–846. https://doi-org.prx-keiser.lirn.net/
10.15253/2175-6783.2017000600019
Smith M. C., & Parker, M. E. (Eds.). (2015). Nursing theories and nursing practice (4th ed.).
Philadelphia, PA: F. A. Davis Company
