Topic 3 DQ 2 Community health nurses
Community health nurses must be culturally compliant to provide the most adequate and highest level of quality care. Understanding certain feelings and recognizing these is the first step for the nurse to put aside stereotypes and bias. Most of the time, they are learned behaviors prior to nursing. Stereotyping in nursing is a preconceived assumption regarding a certain group of people; this, in turn, leads to various personal feelings built upon that stereotype resulting in being bias. In health care, these feelings can lead to implicit bias feelings we unconsciously display towards patients and can impact patient care (Falkner, 2018). It is challenging for nurses not to be biased against one group or the other due to the fact that medically and scientifically there are certain groups or populations that certain condition/diseases are more prevalent than others, but “jumping the gun” per say could result in false diagnosis or inadequate treatments (Puddifoot, 2019). Community nurses must take into account the scientific and medical data related to each and every individual. In health care, these feelings can lead to unconscious biases we show toward patients, which can affect care for those patients (Falkner, 2018). Medically and scientifically, there are some groups or populations where certain conditions or diseases are more common than others. This makes it hard for nurses not to be biased against one group or the other, but “jumping the gun” could lead to wrong diagnoses or treatments that don’t work (Puddifoot, 2019). The scientific and medical facts about each person must be taken into account by community nurses.
Campinha-Bacote and Munoz (2001) proposed a five-component model for developing cultural competence: Cultural awareness, Cultural knowledge, Cultural skill, Cultural encounters, and Cultural desire. One important way for nurses to achieve cultural competence and promote respect is to challenge our own beliefs and ask better questions regarding our patient populations. For example, nurses should avoid unintentionally stereotyping a patient into a specific cultural or ethnic group based on characteristics like outward appearance, race, country of origin or religious preference. Additionally, many subcultures and variations can exist within a cultural or ethnic group. For instance, the term Asian-American includes cultures such as Chinese, Japanese, Taiwanese, Filipino, Korean and Vietnamese, and within these cultures, there are variations in a geographic region, religion, language, family structure and more.
Using 200-300 APA format with references to support the discussion.
How should the nurse address these concepts to ensure health promotion activities are culturally competent? Propose strategies that you can employ to reduce cultural dissonance and bias to deliver culturally competent care. Include an evidence-based article that address the cultural issue