LEGASPI, CAMILLE N.
BSN 4-C
M2 Activity 2: Reflection - Cultural Competence
1. Discuss why cultural competence is important in nursing care?
- Cultural competence in nursing implies the ability of health care workers to give the best
medical care to patients while demonstrating cultural awareness for their beliefs, race, and values.
It entails having knowledge of patients’ cultural diversity and treating them with this in mind. It
prepares nurses to empathize, relate more to patients, and attend more deeply to their needs.
Hospital patients can often be agitated or stressed. Having someone on their care team who
speaks their language or understands their unique background may help them to relax, leading to
greater therapy and overall care.
2. Critical reflection, as a healthcare provider, analyze your personal cultural beliefs, values, and
worldview.
-All cultures have systems of health beliefs to explain what causes illness, how it can be cured or
treated, and who should be involved in the process. Cultural differences affect patients‘ attitudes
about medical care and their ability to understand, manage, and cope with the course of an illness,
the meaning of a diagnosis, and the consequences of medical treatment. Patients and their
families bring culture specific ideas and values related to concepts of health and illness, reporting
of symptoms, expectations for how health care will be delivered, and beliefs concerning
medication and treatments. In addition, culture specific values influence patient roles and
expectations, how much information about illness and treatment is desired, how death and dying
will be managed, bereavement patterns, gender and family roles, and processes for decision
making.
3. Describe how your personal beliefs and assumptions improve professional practice.
- Your experiences, attitude and beliefs are part of what makes you who you are. They affect how
you think, what you do and how you do it. Your background, upbringing, experiences and
relationships will all have played a part in the way you see things. Sometimes your attitudes and
beliefs could lead you to assume things about people that are not right or fair. It is important that
you realize this and develop self awareness so that you can learn to check that this does not
happen. You should take the time to learn about and understand the different attitudes and beliefs
of others so that you can work with individuals in a way that takes these into account.