Practicum and Social Justice Example

Practicum and Social Justice Example

                 Practicum and Social Justice

While working on practicum experience, I got awareness about the concept of multicultural environment or cultural competence as I interact and notice people from diverse backgrounds in the practice area. A culturally competent or multicultural healthcare system is one that admits the significance of culture, integrates the evaluation of cross-cultural relations, identifies the possible effects of differences in culture, increases cultural knowledge, and adapts facilities to fulfill the unique cultural needs. According to the American Hospital Association (AHA). But why is cultural competence in health care so important? When serving a community’s health care requirements, cultural competence in health care settings aims to decrease racial, economic, ethnic, and social inequities (Pacquiao, 2018). The first step in creating a culturally competent healthcare environment is to be aware of one’s own cultural background and experiences, as well as the need to restrict their effect when interacting with people from other cultures and life situations. Beyond this starting point, cultural competence requires an understanding of and respect for other cultures. It also requires responding to patients in ways that are consistent with their cultural practices (Pacquiao, 2018).

Culture influences how a client develops and expresses emotional distress and how that distress is healed through therapeutic intervention. Multicultural Care in practice focuses on culturally adapting care processes according to the needs of patients and using cultural competence to increase the trust and connection with patients. Becoming culturally competent involves a clinical commitment to gaining knowledge and awareness of the client’s attitudes, which enables the clinician to intellectually, affectively, and culturally empathize with the client and demonstrate cultural sensitivity showing awareness, interest, and commitment to recognizing the client’s culture in all aspects of the therapeutic relationship. Multicultural care practitioner recognize the importance of clinical competence. However, they also recognize the value of cultural competence, and research indicates that clients who perceive their therapist to be culturally competent have better outcomes in therapy. Cultural competence encourages the acceptance and acknowledgment of differences in cultures, behavior, and appearance (Abrishami, 2018).

In nursing, cultural competency is known as the capacity of the healthcare provider to deliver the best medical care services to the patients while also showing awareness of their cultural beliefs, values, and race. It needs to be aware of the cultural variety of patients and accordingly provide them treatment. Nurses that are culturally competent are better able to sympathize with patients, relate to them more closely, and pay attention to their needs. Patients in hospitals are frequently irritated or worried. Having someone on their care team who speaks their language or understands their background might help them relax, which can lead to more treatment and overall care. Providing culturally competent or multicultural care in healthcare facilities necessitates an all-encompassing approach that spans the globe (Douglas et al., 2014). Nurses have an ethical duty to respect other persons’ and groups’ cultural beliefs related to health and illness. This respect intersects with culture and cultural competency to help us move beyond the boundaries of race and ethnicity and to treat individuals who are culturally different from us in a humanistic and caring way (Henderson et al., 2018). The International Council of Nurses mentions that “in providing care, the nurse promotes an environment in which the human rights, values, customs and spiritual beliefs of the individual, family, and community are respected”. Cultural competency is therefore not only a nurse’s individual and ethical duty but also an organization’s responsibility, a responsibility to enable and facilitate the establishment of rules and policies that will promote cultural competency within work relations in a practice setting (Henderson et al., 2018).

Healthcare staff would be more likely culturally competent if the leaders were culturally competent. It is reported in the literature that the nursing leadership effect depends on the characteristics of leaders involving expertise and knowledge in culturally competent care. Leaders with a skilled and extensive scope of knowledge would have a positive impact on the healthcare staff (Schmidt & McArthur, 2018). According to the nursing code of ethics, nurses are accountable to provide maximum benefits to their patients (beneficence), avoiding any harm to their patients (non-maleficence), respecting the decision and choices of patients (respect for autonomy), and providing equal care to every patient irrespective to race, religion or culture (justice/fairness). Reflecting on these ethical principles, nurses will provide leadership or roadmap to new staff or young nurses to adhere to these ethical standards while delivering care to patients. Nurses must practice with compassion and respect for the inherent dignity, worth, and unique attributes of every person. The only way to treat all patients with compassion and dignity is by understanding their cultures and responding appropriately to their wishes and desires (Schmidt & McArthur, 2018) Practicum and Social Justice Example.

References

Abrishami, D. (2018). The need for cultural competency in health care. Radiologic technology, 89(5), 441-448.

Douglas, M. K., Rosenkoetter, M., Pacquiao, D. F., Callister, L. C., Hattar-Pollara, M., Lauderdale, J., … & Purnell, L. (2014). Guidelines for implementing culturally competent

, 25(2), 109-121. Henderson, S., Horne, M., Hills, R., & Kendall, E. (2018). Cultural competence in healthcare in, 26(4), 590-603. Springer, Cham.

Schmidt, B. J., & McArthur, E. C. (2018, January). Professional nursing values: A concept nursing care. Journal of Transcultural Nursing the community: A concept analysis. Health & Social Care in the Community

Pacquiao, D. (2018). Conceptual framework for culturally competent care. In  Global  applications of culturally competent health care: Guidelines for practice

(pp. 1-27). Practicum and Social Justice Example