Culturally Competent Care

Culturally Competent Care
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Culturally competent care involves customizing healthcare delivery to patients’ diverse values, linguistic, cultural and social needs. It entails using the patients’ diversity as a resource to aid in the care process enabled through a deep understanding of distinct a culture’s needs (Betancourt, 2002). In order to provide culturally competent care, being self -aware is one of the guidelines that a nurse requires. It entails a personal reflection of one’s values and cultural beliefs. Understanding one’s culture prepares one to appreciate other people’s culture. Understanding the unique aspects of a client’s culture as explained by the patient is another crucial guideline. It allows one to identify the patients’ expectations. The third guideline entails using unbiased communication with patients and offering individualized attention as a way of identifying unique cultural predispositions. Developing a care plan that accommodates patients’ culture is the fourth guideline. Nurses must establish the involvement level of the client’s family in care, as well as religious, legal and economic concerns that may affect care (Betancourt, 2002).
Nurses incorporate deep reflection to identify personal values and cultural predispositions inherent in their approach in health interventions. For instance, they are able to recognize that some families make decisions for the client. It is crucial to identify that such issues may conflict with personal values of client consent and autonomy. In community care, understanding cultural predispositions informs interventions that are vital addressing health myths that patients have regarding illnesses (College of Nurses of Ontario, 2009). Obtaining cultural awareness from the client perspective allows the nurse to understand client’s perceptions of health illness and death. It allow...