Essay Example on Embracing Cultural Diversity in Nursing: Exploring Transcultural Nursing

Introduction

In the world of constant travel and continuous innovation, the ability to embrace cultural diversity in health practices is essential. Nurses have the potential to both recognize and embrace the cultural needs of patients. The term transcultural nursing was used by Madeleine Leininger, who was a nurse. Its goal was to provide nursing care that is culturally oriented for families and people of various cultures. Leininger realized the significance of cultural care in nursing. The idea came in the 1950s after realizing that behavioral issues in most children were a result of the culture in which nurses lacked knowledge on several cultural awareness (Wehbe-Alamah, 2018). Leininger outlined eight significant reasons for the necessity of transcultural diversity.

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The paper discusses the eight reasons that Leininger offered as a support for the necessity of transcultural nursing. Also, the paper describes the meaning of cultural diversity and its relation to nursing, together with the identification of three ways that nurses can utilize in the provision of culturally sensitive care to patients.

The Reasons that Makes Transcultural Nursing be a Necessary Specialty

According to Leininger, there exist eight reasons that influence the specialty of transcultural nursing, and they should be utilized the issues and challenges of healthcare that are relevant in modern society. The first reason that makes transcultural nursing a necessity is because of the growth of multicultural individuals that enters American as a result of migration from other countries. The data from the Migration Policy Institute on a recent survey illustrated that the number o immigrants in the United States had reached 42.4 million (Wehbe-Alamah, 2018). Thus, there is a need to make transcultural nursing a necessary specialty as the United States comprises of different cultures which makes it essential for health care providers to understand such different cultures.

The second reason is a continuation of the first reason for the increased number of immigrants to the United States. The reason is that the number resolves around the diverse, multicultural identities or families which are in rising and who are the immigrants. The values and beliefs of such families should be well understood through transcultural nursing. Such families expect healthcare providers to understand and, at the same time, respect their ways of life, cultural beliefs, and values.

The third reason is the outcome of increased technology use, which causes conflicts with patients' values as illustrated by the communication between a family and a nurse when the family member does not understand the instruments of the technology being used like the intubation or life-saving device (Edwards, 2019). Some practices in other parts of the world where culture differs might not be the same as the practices in the United States; thus, causing conflicts making it important for nurses to recognize the available technologies.

The fourth reason comes from the recognition that the conflicts identified in reason three results in violence and confrontation as there is intermingling between cultures, and it affects the care provided to a patient. The fifth reason acknowledges the increased relocation of individuals from one place to another, resulting in a cultural mix between people of different cultural backgrounds; thus, nurses must learn on transcultural matters. The sixth reason is the expansion in nursing care action and decisions. Mostly, due to increased cultural diversity, nurses have to make broad decisions and actions that are affected by the different cultural backgrounds of the patients. Transcultural nursing is thus a necessity as cultural care maintenance, cultural care restructuring, and cultural care negotiation or accommodation is the action of nursing and decision has to be made on each of them (Edwards, 2019). The seventh reason is the rising need for universal health care practices in the health care system. Here, nurses are required to provide care to patients, which is universal; in that, it should reflect the care provided in most parts of the world. Therefore, health care providers are forced to take transcultural nursing as a necessary specialty to offer care that reflects what is provided worldwide where people are of different cultures. The last reason is the presence of folk or general health care practices in different cultures as there is variation in the professional practices in different cultures. Such difference causes the need for making transcultural nursing a necessary specialty for nurses to understand the general practices to enable them to provide the best culturally competent care to patients of different cultures.

Cultural Diversity and its Relation in Nursing

Cultural diversity is the element of different cultures instead of monoculture. It also refers to the existence of different cultures with differences, and it takes into account ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, race, age, and gender. Cultural diversity in nursing is essential as it provides opportunities to provide culturally sensitive care to different patients.

It improves communication with patients and enhances the care services because the bridge between the practices and beliefs of the patient's values system and culture of medicine is united with cultural diversity in nursing. Nurses maximize the potential provided by cultural diversity, getting to learn more concerning the cultures of patients.

Ways in Which Nurses Provide Culturally Sensitive Care

Cultural diversity in nursing goes beyond the issue of the language barrier, and it is all about the understanding of the patient's mindset and the context of the culture at large. There are various ways in which health care providers can provide culturally sensitive care to various patients, especially in a diverse nation like the United States. The first way is through awareness. Nurses have the intensity of awareness concerning the need for patient care, which is culturally competent. The nurses have to increase awareness of the importance of care by encouraging co-workers to provide culturally competent care in a positive and open manner.

The second way is through learning different cultures. A nurse has to learn about other cultures to provide culturally sensitive care to patients. The nurses have to learn the culture of patients by understanding their families together with their daily lives. The nurses have to think about various cultures they experience in their careers and learn them by immersing themselves in such cultures by visiting the places such cultures are dominant and read them.

The third way is through overcoming language barriers. Nurses usually face a huge challenge while providing care services to patients. Culturally sensitive care is provided by nurses when they learn the languages by using a translation technology to learn the languages of the patients to be able to understand patients well.

Conclusion

In conclusion, cultural knowledge and awareness are required in the provision of patient care, with nurses at the forefront. Recognizing personal feelings and take towards other people's cultures assists in bringing awareness to patient care practices together with increasing awareness of beliefs with societies. Leininger recognized the best way to provide care is through bringing the idea of cultural knowledge to healthcare and making transcultural nursing to be a necessary specialty. Through increasing open-mindedness together with flexibility, it is possible to consider a way of thinking which is more positive and the one that provides the best care to various individuals and families. With the presence of the cultural diversity that exists in the population of the United States, it is good that nurses or the health professionals, in general, provide culturally sensitive care to patients of different cultural backgrounds.

References

Edwards, A. M. E. (2019). Implementation of a Transcultural Nursing Education Program to Improve Nurses' Cultural Competence. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/6996/

Wehbe-Alamah, H. B. (2018). Leininger's Culture Care Diversity and Universality Theory. Annual Review of Nursing Research, Volume 37: Transcultural and Social Research, 1. https://connect.springerpub.com/content/sgrarnr/37/1/1