Diversity and Culture Essay

Diversity and Culture Essay

Healthcare professionals should demonstrate the ability to provide quality and convenient care to culturally diverse populations without upholding implicit and explicit perceptions, biases, and stereotypes. The need to provide culturally responsive care underpins the concept of cultural competency. According to Stubbe (2020), culture competency entails being aware of and responsive to patients’ cultural perspectives and backgrounds, as well as respecting patient and family preferences, cultural traditions, language, values, and socio-economic conditions. In the same vein, Kaihlanen et al. (2019) perceive cultural competence as a multi-dimensional concept that entails a person’s cultural sensitivity, attitudes, awareness, knowledge, and skills. Throughout the course, I have learned various aspects that underpin cultural competency in nursing, including diversity, equity, and inclusion. Therefore, the focus of this paper is to reflect on how the learned concepts would influence my professional behaviors and actions.

How will what you have learned so far change your behavior and actions when you encounter people from other cultures?

Learning about cultural competency and diversity is essential in shaping professional behavior and actions. Brooks et al. (2018) contend that cultural diversity and sensitivity influence how healthcare professionals may influence patients’ values, beliefs, attitudes, and individual differences. It is essential to note that healthcare professionals encounter the need to provide quality and culturally responsive care to patients of diverse cultural backgrounds. As a result, learning about cultural competence is profound in equipping nurses with adequate knowledge and skills for respecting and responding to cultural differences, needs, and priorities. From a personal perspective, the learned concepts from the course will enhance my communication skills when interacting with patients and families of different cultural orientations, as well as enable me to eliminate implicit and explicit biases that anchor stereotypes, negative perceptions, and discrimination. Equally, learning about cultural competence would enhance my professional attributes, including respect, fairness, and impartiality.

How did the information you have read or viewed in this module confirm or deny what you already understand was the truth about a group of people?

Before enrolling for this course, I perceived Asians as a group of people with unique cultural beliefs, practices, norms, and values that influence their perception and understanding of health and suffering. Consequently, the presence of unique cultural beliefs, values, and practices among Asians affects their interactions with healthcare professionals from different cultural backgrounds. For example, Asians, especially Chinese are very categorical when responding to nonverbal communication cues, including head nodding and shaking hands. After reviewing the class module, I realized that scholarly materials confirmed my perspective of Asians. According to Nguyen et al. (2021), culturally diverse populations are often resistant to disclosing personal information and are sensitive to various verbal and nonverbal cues. As a result, it is essential to ensure confidentiality and obtain informed consent when providing care to these groups.

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Describe any blame and shame you might have experienced or endured because of what you have learned

Although I have not experienced any shame or blame during the course, it is valid to argue that the learned concepts enabled me to address some implicit perceptions about people of different cultures. For example, I believed that providing care to patients of diverse cultural backgrounds is burdensome and complex due to the underlying barriers, including language, worldviews, and beliefs. However, I realized that these aspects are profound assets when providing patient-centered care because they allow healthcare professionals to understand, respect, and respond to patients’ cultural beliefs, needs, values, and socio-economic conditions. For instance, demonstrating cultural competence in the current healthcare systems is a profound dimension of enhancing care quality, cultivating ideal clinical environments that support recovery, and developing meaningful relationships with patients. Therefore, it is not a burdensome concept.

What are your expectations, and what type of accountability will come with this new knowledge?

After reviewing the course materials, I realized that healthcare professionals are responsible and accountable for respecting diversity and being sensitive to patients’ and families’ cultural beliefs, worldviews, priorities, and preferences. According to Phillips et al. (2020), healthcare professionals should develop effective communication with patients of diverse cultural backgrounds by establishing rapport, and trust, sharing health information, empowering patients, and adopting collaborative care plans. These aspects require care providers to address implicit and explicit biases and avoid stereotypes, negative perceptions, and other beliefs that anchor discrimination and racism. As a healthcare professional, I expect to be accountable for developing patient-centered, culturally-sensitive care models that emphasize patient empowerment, respect, impartial transfer of information, and agreement on medical decisions.

What does diversity mean to you?

From a personal perspective, diversity encompasses differences in socioeconomic backgrounds, races, sexual orientations, religious inclinations, gender, cultures, and ethnicities that influence interactions between patients and healthcare professionals, as well as communication patterns and care models. It is essential to note that diversity is essential in healthcare because explains disparities in care access, affordability, and utilization. Healthcare professionals should understand the impacts of cultural diversity on care delivery and perceive it as a determinant of health.

How is what you have learned in this module about diversity and culture different from what you knew before the course?

Notably, this course has enhanced my understanding of cultural competence, diversity, sensitivity, and healthcare professionals’ responsibilities in respecting patients’ cultural beliefs, worldviews, priorities, and preferences. Initially, my understanding of diversity was abstract because I believed that cultural diversity was an impediment to care delivery. However, information from this module has contradicted this belief by presenting cultural diversity as a strength instead of a weakness. Based on my updated understanding of diversity, I can confirm that respecting and responding to patients’ and families’ cultural beliefs, values, and preferences can improve patient-centered care models, eliminate barriers to care delivery and improve patients’ response to care interventions, including pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic strategies.

Conclusion

Cultural competence is a vital concept in the current healthcare systems, considering the overarching need to provide quality and convenient care to patients from different cultural backgrounds. Healthcare professionals should understand the tenets of cultural diversity, sensitivity, and equity to address disparities associated with socioeconomic and cultural differences. It is crucial to note that healthcare professionals are accountable and responsible for developing meaningful relationships and collaborative care models with highly-diverse patients by addressing implicit and explicit biases, perceptions, and beliefs that facilitate discrimination and racism. This role is achievable by ensuring the impartial transfer of information, engaging patients in all elements of care, respecting beliefs and worldviews, and allowing patients to make informed decisions. Although my understanding of cultural diversity was abstract before enrolling in this course, I am now conversant with the intricacies and demands of providing culturally responsive and sensitive care.

 

References

Brooks, L. A., Manias, E., & Bloomer, M. J. (2019). Culturally sensitive communication in healthcare: A concept analysis. Collegian, 26(3), 383–391. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colegn.2018.09.007

Kaihlanen, A.-M., Hietapakka, L., & Heponiemi, T. (2019). Increasing cultural awareness: Qualitative study of nurses’ perceptions about cultural competence training. BMC Nursing, 18(1), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-019-0363-x

Nguyen, C. M., Tan, A., Nguyen, A., Lee, G. J., Qi, W. (Gabriel), Thaler, N. S., & Fujii, D. (2021). Cross-cultural considerations for teleneuropsychology with Asian patients. The Clinical Neuropsychologist, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/13854046.2021.1948104

Phillips, S., Wyatt, L. C., Turner, M. M., Trinh-Shevrin, C., & Kwon, S. C. (2021). Patient-provider communication patterns among Asian American immigrant subgroups in New York City. Patient Education and Counseling, 104(5), 1049–1058. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2020.10.002

Stubbe, D. E. (2020). Practicing cultural competence and cultural humility in the care of diverse patients. FOCUS, 18(1), 49–51. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.focus.20190041

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Learning about diversity and understanding your role as a culturally aware person is the first step in preparing you to be culturally sensitive and responsible. You will need to review the Glossary of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Terms for this assignment. Thinking back over what you have learned in this module, write a 1000 APA style reflection essay addressing the following questions or prompts regarding diversity and cultural awareness:

How will what you have learned so far change your behavior and actions when you encounter people from other cultures?

Think about a group of people who are different from you. How did the information you have read or viewed in this module confirm or deny what you already understood was the truth about a group of people?

Describe any blame and shame you might have experienced or endured as a result of what you have learned.

What are your expectations, and what type of accountability will come with this new knowledge?

What does diversity mean to you?

How is what you have learned in this module about diversity and culture different from what you knew prior to the course?