Integration and Self Reflection

Integration and Self-Reflection

Studies show that the future United States population will majorly comprise minorities (Nair & Adetayo, 2019). However, despite this project, the current healthcare model has a lot of notable underrepresentation of minority groups and persistent racial and cultural discrepancies among healthcare professionals (Salsberg et al., 2021). This creates a need to promote diversity in the current and future healthcare workforce, research, and education to help address the country’s future healthcare challenges (Diaz et al., 2019). Cultural competence in future nursing will complement the technical competencies of nurses and help them deliver care services sensitive to societal and cultural differences in the future U.S. population.

Major Individual-Level Strategy to Integrate Cultural Competence into Nursing Care

I propose improving communication and overcoming language barriers as a major individual-level strategy that nurses can adopt to integrate cultural competence into nursing care. In my cultural competency journey, I have learned that language is the most important aspect of culture. From a philosophical perspective, language embodies an individual’s material and spiritual culture and acts as a mediator link between an individual and their environment (Vladimirovich, 2021). Adopting strategies that improve communication and overcome language barriers can support the integration of cultural competence into nursing care at an individual level.

This individual-level strategy will require the nurses to practice different methods that improve their communication with patients despite the differences in their language. This will include the nurses’ understanding of how to best start a conversation with the patients using the right and universally accepted verbal and non-verbal cues such as a smile. The nurse can also focus on understanding the important basic vocabulary of the patient’s language and how to correctly use it in communication. Another method to improve communication is to consider the patient’s education level. This will require the nurse to use the simplest communication language to explain to the patient or enlist an interpreter to help them understand the health issue or instructions.

Evidence justifies the focus on language and communication as a major part of cultural competence. For instance, Albrecht et al. (2019) note that regardless of the adoption of patient-centered care in healthcare, the patient’s educational background and language proficiency determine the efficiency of physician-patient communication. The nature of communication between patient and physician, such as the use of affiliative language, has been found to influence the patient-physician relationship and is a factor in the development of role and identity and patient participation in care plans (Forsey et al., 2021).

Major Workplace and Systems-Level Strategy to Integrate Cultural Competence into Nursing Care

A major workplace and systems-level strategy that can be used to integrate cultural competence into nursing care involving multiple individuals and professions is to provide classes on cultural competence for the people within the workplace. Future will deliver care to patients from diverse cultural backgrounds. Training culturally competent nurses and healthcare professionals means equipping them with patient-centered care skills that integrate aspects of culture within a diverse population. Education programs within the workplace that focus on cultural competence will help the nurses and other healthcare professionals understand how to relate professionally with one another and with the patients at a personal level, creating bonds necessary to attend to the needs of the patients. Cultural education will also enable nurses to understand and appreciate the differences and uniqueness of patients’ backgrounds, leading to better care.

Based on evidence from research, educational interventions aimed at developing nurses’ cultural competence have been linked to a positive effect on the nurses’ understanding of cultural competence and effective implementation into practice (Oikarainen et al., 2019). Additionally, promoting cultural competence among nurses enables them to effectively respond to individual patients’ unique needand reduce health disparities in future diverse patient populations (Hughes et al., 2020).

Significant Moments of Cultural Learning and Future Journey to Enhance My Cultural Competence

I have had various cultural learning moments in my professional life. Two of the major learning moments happened recently. My first learning moment was when I first got to work in my current organization. I had expectations of creating relationships with my fellow workers. I even approached a couple of fellows I had known for a week and asked them for coffee after work. They turned down the offer. But later that night, I found the team from work having coffee, chatting, and laughing. I actually felt rejected. In another case, there was a patient who had been brought in for surgery after they had an accident. We soon realized that the patient was homeless and uninsured. The facility hesitated to provide care until a Medicare/Medicaid follow-up was complete. I suggested that we, as the nurses, contribute a specific amount to cover the expenses. Although the contributions were made, I later learned that not everyone was comfortable with the suggestion and that I should have consulted with each one. From these moments, I learned that I was quick to judge them in the first moment, and in the second case, I realized I did not respect each of my fellows’ views on charity. In my future cultural competence journey, I will focus on having an open mind toward developing relationships and respecting how others do their things regardless of how they appear to me.

References

Aelbrecht, K., Hanssens, L., Detollenaere, J., Willems, S., Deveugele, M., & Pype, P. (2019). Determinants of physician-patient communication: The role of language, education and ethnicity. Patient Education and Counseling, 102(4), 776–781. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.PEC.2018.11.006

Diaz, T., Navarro, J. R., & Chen, E. H. (2019). An Institutional Approach to Fostering Inclusion and Addressing Racial Bias: Implications for Diversity in Academic Medicine. Https://Doi.Org/10.1080/10401334.2019.1670665, 32(1), 110–116. https://doi.org/10.1080/10401334.2019.1670665

Forsey, J., Ng, S., Rowland, P., Freeman, R., Li, C., & Woods, N. N. (2021). The Basic Science of Patient-Physician Communication: A Critical Scoping Review. Academic Medicine : Journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges, 96(11), S109–S118. https://doi.org/10.1097/ACM.0000000000004323

Hughes, V., Delva, S., Nkimbeng, M., Spaulding, E., Turkson-Ocran, R. A., Cudjoe, J., Ford, A., Rushton, C., D’Aoust, R., & Han, H. R. (2020). Not missing the opportunity: Strategies to promote cultural humility among future nursing faculty. Journal of Professional Nursing, 36(1), 28–33. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.PROFNURS.2019.06.005

Nair, L., & Adetayo, O. A. (2019). Cultural Competence and Ethnic Diversity in Healthcare. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Global Open, 7(5), E2219. https://doi.org/10.1097/GOX.0000000000002219

Oikarainen, A., Mikkonen, K., Kenny, A., Tomietto, M., Tuomikoski, A. M., Meriläinen, M., Miettunen, J., & Kääriäinen, M. (2019). Educational interventions designed to develop nurses’ cultural competence: A systematic review. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 98, 75–86. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.IJNURSTU.2019.06.005

Salsberg, E., Richwine, C., Westergaard, S., Portela Martinez, M., Oyeyemi, T., Vichare, A., & Chen, C. P. (2021). Estimation and Comparison of Current and Future Racial/Ethnic Representation in the U.S. Health Care Workforce. JAMA Network Open, 4(3), e213789–e213789. https://doi.org/10.1001/JAMANETWORKOPEN.2021.3789

Vladimirovich, P. D. (2021). Concept as a Synthesis of the Elements of Language and Culture. EPRA International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research (IJMR), 7(6). https://doi.org/10.36713/epra7401

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Write a two to three-page paper in which you address the following prompts:

Reflect on the future of cultural competence in the nursing profession.
Propose one major individual-level strategy whereby cultural competence can be integrated into nursing care.

Propose one major workplace or systems-level strategy involving multiple individuals and/or professions to integrate cultural competence into nursing care.
Justify the reasons for selecting the chosen recommendations. Use the highest level of evidence in scholarly resources to explain your justifications.
Describe two significant moments in your professional life that relate to cultural learning. Discuss specific actions you will take from here forward to enhance your cultural competence.