Reflective Essay in Nursing: Examining Cultural Contexts

Introduction

Essays are written compositions of an individual's experiences in a given scenario. Reflective essays are usually composed of critical examinations concerning an individual's life experience he has had in one field or another that acts as a mirror to the cultures exhibited in the long run (Bassot & B. 2015). This paper presents the critical reflection essay in nursing as a discipline.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Cultural Contexts

Nurses express their care for patients through writing reflective essays. They achieve this by flashing back on what culture had to offer during their pieces of training, upbringing, and the guidance they received in the entire period. How and what they give to their patients, such as the responses they give to the patients and the attention as well, it depends on their cultural context. Gimenez & J. (2019) stipulate that the type of essay can also enable nurses to manage the stress they get from doctors and patients. Through that, they can put themselves in the patients' shoes and understand what is expected of them at the end of it all.

Regardless of the innumerable cultural diversities evident in the nursing field, the context concept appears to unify it as a whole medicine discipline. The culture of nursing is structured within the regulations' unit, convicted across the settings of the various institutions such as health agencies, hospitals, and clinics. The said settings are manifested by the institutional bureaucracies set to administer and put into action health facilities. The health care system has become one large and independent production with structured input and output flow with quality control departments, serving consumables, product prescription, among other order of production procedures (Tait et al., 2015). It also has an edifying structure with the hierarchical order of command and division of labor amongst the employees. To conclude the contextual viewpoint of the nursing culture, it is best when said that the culture is founded on structure regulations with the best quality service delivery design, which defines the overall environmental influence and responses that are received from those exposed to it.

Power Relations

Power relations entail what position the nurses hold concerning the intercultural interactions between themselves, the patients, and the doctors they work with. This significant concerns here are the point of view of one another in society and how relevant he/she is. Power relations are consequential in every organization and occurs within the organizational periphery. Quite many corporate culture relations are defined through various known dimensions as; who control the human resources, materials, and ideologies expressed within its context. These features in the reflection of what materials or artworks the organization has, the social, cultural wellbeing, and the ideas depicted in the same parameters.

Power is seen as a substantial influence that circulates amongst individual owners of the organization. It is relevant only when acted upon and considered a stake within the organization. Irrespective of the emerging power responsibilities in the nursing discipline, nurses are still seen as low-level persons who must work under given guidance with higher percentage bureaucracy in the field of nursing and the society as a whole (Reed & S. 2015). Yet, the nurses are the ones who pay a significant role in ensuring that the nursing culture is modernized and has a going concern. According to the observed administrative hierarchies, nurses have less privileged and power in the profession of medicine. Besides, nurses express both governances in the entire health care system.

Ways of Recognizing and Managing Bias in the Academic and Professional Relationship

Biasness occurs when one individual or party is favored more than the other in academic or professional situations. This can be recognized on occasions when, for instance, a particular group of nurses is mostly considered than the other, and their opinions bought regardless of relevance (Oluwatoyin & F. E. 2015). Managing biasness is more critical since all employees are treated and seen as equal irrespective of race, ethnicity, culture, and background. This can be achieved through individual empowerment in their respective departments.

Effect of Cultural Border Crossing in the Professional Context and Power Relations

Cultural borders occur in the presence of barriers between different cultures. Order is usually a social model that is of political origin, which is exercised between two countries. Cultural border crossing occurs when a person is relocating from a social, artistic community to the other (Nicol et al., 2017). Societies differ in how they understand power relations amongst themselves. When an individual is involved in cultural border crossing, he has to adapt to the cultures of the new community as well as influence people in that environment the learnings from his home nation or community.

A nurse from a society where cultural context is not in the front line may find it challenging to adapt to the one which values bureaucracies and considers them guidance to the profession McGonigle et al., (2015). This, in turn, may result in a positive influence such as compliance to the set organizational work standards or a negative impact such as deprivation of the held cultural beliefs concerning the culture of origin. To some with quick adaptability skills, may not see the big challenge in culture border crossing.

How to Establish Trust in Academic and Professional Situations.

Trust goes hand in hand with the kind of power relationships in an organization. Individuals with less cultural interrelationship may find it challenging to count a coworker trustworthy in any field or line of duty. On the contrary, individual workers are encouraged to build trust relations with one another as a sign of correlation and teamwork (Godfrey & J. 2018). In one way or another, establishing trust in the academic or professional situation is achieved through a commitment to self and the structured bureaucracies in the discipline of medicine.

Meaning of Diversity in Nursing

Diversity in healthcare is significant in the sense that it enables those in the nursing profession to deliver the best care services to their patients since they are capable of relating to them effectively (Liaschenko et al., (2016). In nursing, diversity points out gender, race, health disability, sexual orientation, age, religion, and many more. It is essential since it helps in communication between nurses and patients. According to Cottrell & S. (2017), when they communicate, they can relate to various concepts of their patients, such as background, religion, race, type of foods hence increasing understanding.

Conclusion

A critical reflection essay focuses mainly on the examination experiences that one is exposed to. Nursing as a discipline depicts the more significant percentage of those applying this type of writing. Power relations entail what position the nurses hold concerning the intercultural interactions between themselves, the patients, and the doctors they work with. Cultural borders occur in the presence of barriers between different cultures. Diversity in healthcare is significant in the sense that it enables those in the nursing profession to deliver the best care services to their patients since they are capable of relating to them effectively.

References

Bassot, B. (2015). The reflective practice guide: An interdisciplinary approach to critical reflection. Routledge.

Cottrell, S. (2017). Critical thinking skills: Effective analysis, argument, and reflection. Macmillan International Higher Education.

Gimenez, J. (2019). Writing for nursing and midwifery students. Macmillan International Higher Education.

Godfrey, J. (2018). How to use your reading in your essays. Macmillan International Higher Education.

Liaschenko, J., & Peter, E. (2016). Fostering nurses' moral agency and moral identity: The importance of the moral community. Hastings Center Report, 46, S18-S21. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/hast.626McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (Eds.). (2015). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.

Nicol, J., & Nyatanga, B. (2017). Palliative and end of life care in nursing. Learning Matters.

Oluwatoyin, F. E. (2015). Reflective practice: Implication for nurses. Journal of nursing and health science, 4(4), 28-33.

Reed, S. (2015). Successful professional portfolios for nursing students. Learning Matters.

Tait, D., James, J., Williams, C., & Barton, D. (2015). Acute and critical care in adult nursing. Learning Matters.