Cultures are rich and complex. Moreover, each culture has its history, traditions and beliefs. When it comes to cultural competence as a registered nurse, you should be aware of your patient’s unique beliefs, practices and social norms. This allows you to provide the best care possible in a safe environment for everyone involved.
Let’s say you’re a nursing student and that you’re looking into an online BSN program for non-nurses, such as the one at Wilkes University. It’s vital to remember that success as a nurse is not only about knowing medicine. In short, it’s also about how you treat patients. Understanding what’s considered offensive, who’s involved in the patient’s care, and taboos that may exist is imperative to treating every individual with respect and dignity.
Here’s what you need to know about ensuring that your patients feel safe while receiving treatment.
What is cultural competence?
Cultural competence is essential to providing care to all patients. It’s the ability to recognize and understand how people from different backgrounds, with different beliefs and values, view their healthcare. While every person is unique, cultural competence also acknowledges shared experiences and commonalities among groups of people. It also admits that we’re all part of a larger group with shared experiences, beliefs, values and traditions. In sum, cultural competence is the awareness of and respect of differences. It’s also about knowing when and how to address them appropriately.
Why is cultural competence important?
Cultural competence is essential for a few reasons. The first is to ensure that you provide care to all patients seeking it. So, cultural competence ensures that everyone gets treated with respect and dignity. Additionally, it helps reduce health disparities and improves patient outcomes. The more you cater your care to each patient, the more likely it is that their treatment is succesful. Finally, cultural competence allows you to be an influential team member. It helps you achieve goals by understanding and respecting your fellow team members.
Define your patient’s culture and background
The first step in ensuring cultural competence is to define your patient’s culture and background. What’s their ethnicity? What’s their religion? Are they from an urban or rural setting? What language do they speak? It helps you understand their worldview and values. In addition to defining your patient’s culture, you should also understand their background as this helps you better understand them as people.
Make sure that you give patients privacy
Privacy is a very delicate and sensitive subject for some patients. So, it’s important to respect privacy and avoid invading it, particularly with patients who are sensitive to this issue. There are certain things you should do when trying to respect patient privacy. For instance, you should avoid asking unnecessary questions. Avoid overly personal questions unless it’s essential for healthcare. Also, avoid writing anything on a chart that’s irrelevant to patient care.
Providing quality healthcare
A culturally competent nurse is essential to providing quality healthcare. Cultural competence is an excellent part of skills development. It allows nurses to approach each patient with an awareness of their beliefs. A culturally competent nurse treats each patient with dignity and respect and appreciates differences in beliefs and traditions. Being culturally competent is essential to provide the best care for your patients.
