Application of the Nursing Process to Delivery Culturally Competent Care - Essay Example

Delivery of Culturally Competent Care Application of the Nursing Process to Delivery Culturally Competent Care As a professional, I believe in the diversities of the society. So, while discharging my duties, I always strive to do my best for the sake of my patients. Being a native white would not bar me from effectively serving patients from diverse cultural backgrounds such as the Hispanics. However, to do my work well, I have to establish an effective interpersonal communication with all the patients.

This would begin by understanding, respecting, accepting and appreciating their culture. According to the Hispanic culture, healthcare is a very important thing that should be availed to the people at any given time. Although the Hispanics still reserve aspects of their traditional cultural beliefs, medical care should be sought because it is necessary for longevity. Therefore, in order to deliver a competent service to them, I would have to heavily invest in communication (Adrian, J. et al., 2013).

Although the Hispanics have lots of differences, I would strive to understand all the environmental, physiological and psychosocial factors influencing their communication process. After acquiring such knowledge, I would not hesitate to establish a healthy interpersonal communication and relationship with them (Betancourt et al., 2011).For me to deliver competent services to the Hispanics, I would strive to deal with any barrier such as linguistic limitations and the use of verbal and non-verbal cues at all times.

To do this, I would have to be a critical listener who gives enough time to my patients to express themselves. Also, if need arises, I would have to involve the support of the patient’s close friends or carers (American Association of Medical Colleges, 2013). This would help me to overcome the ethical dilemma of confidentiality and benevolence that might arise. For me to deliver culturally competent and sensitive healthcare services to the Hispanics, it should be incumbent upon me to carry out an informed cultural assessment.

This would be done using the Purnell Model for Cultural Competence, an assessment model developed in 1995 to help in carrying out cultural studies by healthcare providers. Here, I will apply the Sunlight Model to help me in understanding how the Hispanic’s cultural values, beliefs and traditional practices influence them (Office of Minority Health, 2002). It is an assessment model that would make it much easier for me to have knowledge of the all aspects of the Hispanics including their attitudes, cultural beliefs, perceptions and major issues of heath concern to them.

As minorities, the Hispanics are mainly prone to ailments like cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis, heart diseases, stroke and Chronic lower respiratory disease. These are the diseases that I will have to do my best to eradicate from this community. So, in my plan of action, I would dedicate my time to understand much about the cultural diversities of the Hispanics. I would also be ready to adopt an interdisciplinary approach and work in collaboration of other professionals and stakeholders such as the physicians, doctors, colleague nurses, local community members, religious organizations, governmental organizations, healthcare associations and Non-Governmental Organizations (Armstrong, 2007).

Through their support, it would be much easier to accomplish my goal of delivering exceptionally cultural competent services to my Hispanic patients. In conclusion, culturally competent service delivery should be the goal for each and every professional. Although people come from different cultural backgrounds, no one’s culture should be used to discriminate them whatsoever. For this reason, if I were to serve the Hispanics, I would do my best to critically assess their culture before coming up with the most appropriate plan to competently serve them.

ReferencesAdrian, J. et al. (2013) Cultural Competency Training Requirements in Graduate Medical Education. Journal of Graduate Medical Education: June 2013, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 227-231.American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) (2013). Cultural competence education for medical students. Washington, DC: AAMC.Armstrong, A. (2007). Nursing Ethics: A Virtue-Based Approach. New York: Macmillan Publishers.Betancourt, J. et al. (2011). Cultural competence in health care: emerging frameworks and practical approaches.

New York, NY: The Commonwealth Fund.Office of Minority Health. (2002). Teaching cultural competence in health care: A review of current concepts, policies and practices. Washington D.C.: U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. Contract Number: 282 - 98 - 0029.