Essay on Navigating Cultural Sensitivity in Healthcare: Understanding Religious Beliefs in Nursing Practice

Introduction

American nurses are usually trained to appreciate and acknowledge the existence of various thoughts, attitudes, and beliefs in the health-seeking behaviors of different patients. This concern on the cultural aspects is usually to preserve the patient cultures and not violate the codes of ethics which is to be aware of our thoughts, priorities, and attitudes when providing care services to individual patients, communities, or families. Research on cultural diversity was conducted in 2014 by the National Conference of State Legislatures, which suggested that elevating the diversity of the medical workforce could better the health and lifestyle outcomes of culturally diverse patients.

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Cultural Background

In the Think Cultural video on cultural and religious beliefs, the patient presents a case scenario of how religious and cultural beliefs could impact the healthcare sector. In this case, Nadira Ansari, who is middle-aged, denies Dr Calley, male, a chance to examine based on her religious belief. Muslim ladies are not allowed to remove their head coverings, or hijabs, and expose their heads to men, except their husbands (Malik et al., 2019). As a result, Ansari asks Dr Calley to call his fellow female nurse to examine her, doctor Smith understood her matter and promised to talk more about it later to Doctor Calley, who was a bit worried (Thinking Cultural Health, 2019, May 1). Though not satisfied with the reason Ansari gave on why she never wanted him to examine her, he moves forward and calls Doctor Smith who checks on her. In this case example, doctor Calley seems to be insensitive to cultural aspects to adhere to when handling his or her patients.

Perception of Health

In the Muslim community, religion is always highly prioritized and they always perceive health as psychological, physical, social, and spiritual well-being, and they regard it as the greatest blessing Allah gives to his people. Most Muslim patients believe in their faith to restore their health to normal when they are sick. Even the Muslims who don’t believe much in prayers often pray for good health from Allah. Muslims further attach the significance of health, such that they encourage the believers to take care of their fellows when they are sick by supporting them in doing various tasks as this is believed to be a sacred responsibility.

Perception of Illness

On the contrary, sickness, pain, and suffering are usually perceived as a test or a trial from their superior being, Allah. They also regard their bodies as temples and therefore try as much not to expose their bodies (Beller & Kröger, 2018). Thus, knowing the history of Muslims is very important when handling such patients. As a way of showing their modesty to their husbands and their supreme Allah, Muslim women cover their heads with special clothing called the hijab and only allow their husbands and other women to see them without the hijab (Sheen et al., 2018). The perceptions of these women indicate difficulty in handling them when sick, just like the patient in the video. Therefore, Nadira Ansari as a patient rejects doctor Calley’s request for examination after her surgery just because she is religiously preserving her body for her husband and for Allah, rather than the way the male doctor is taking it lightly. Other than that, the Muslim religion also restricts personal contact between females and males like handshaking and hugging, which are only allowed to peacefully married couples.

Issue Presented

The main issue presented in this video is cultural sensitivity. Nadira Ansari, a Muslim woman, makes an appointment with Doctor Smith who she finds missing on her arrival in the hospital. Doctor Callay is willing to help her, but she won’t remove her hijab due to her religious beliefs that a woman should not expose her head to a man unless it is her husband. Doctor Callay is an insensitive person and has very little knowledge of the Muslim religion. He gets a little bit worried about the patient's situation because of his little knowledge of the religion. However, as he gets out of the room, he luckily gets Doctor Smith who is just arriving to handle the patient's situation. The doctor understands more about Muslim culture and treats the patient according to her standards.

Ways of Overcoming the Issue

The issue presented in this case, cultural sensitivity can be solved by providing nurses with more knowledge of different cultures and religions during their studies before they are allowed to work in hospitals. Religious beliefs are some of the most incredible things that should not be violated by patients as that can even lead to them being separated from his or her fellows in society. For instance, if other Muslims realized that one of their women had uncovered her head to a male doctor, she could be isolated from other females in the Muslim religion. Thus, doctors should be passed through proper training before they are let out to work.

Cultural Barrier in My Nursing Practice

Once in my experience, I overheard a patient asking for the contents of some medicine in the hospital, whether one of the contents was pork or not. I came to figure out that the patient was a Muslim and therefore, as their religion presents that pigs are unclean animals; she wouldn’t buy or use the medicine. Muslims restrict prohibits the consumption of medicines that contain gelatin, or that are pork-based. It is also essential to understand that when treating your patients avoid giving patients medicines that will spoil their religious beliefs.

Conclusion

In summary, medical schools should emphasize on cultural studies and understanding among other lessons to make healthcare the right place for everyone irrespective of their religion or cultural beliefs. Cases like the one with Ansari are widespread nowadays. They should be eliminated from the system by equipping the upcoming nurses with substantial knowledge on understanding of cultural and religious beliefs and their impacts on healthcare. Otherwise, healthcare will be a better place for the upcoming patients.

References

Beller, J., & Kröger, C. (2018). Religiosity, religious fundamentalism, and perceived threat as predictors of Muslim support for extremist violence. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 10(4), 345.

Malik, A., Qureshi, H., Abdul-Razakq, H., Yaqoob, Z., Javaid, F. Z., Esmail, F., ... & Latif, A. (2019). ‘I decided not to go into surgery due to dress code’: a cross-sectional study within the UK investigating experiences of female Muslim medical health professionals on bare below the elbows (BBE) policy and wearing headscarves (hijabs) in theatre. BMJ open, 9(3), e019954.

Sheen, M., Aman Key Yekani, H., & Jordan, T. R. (2018). Investigating the effect of wearing the hijab: Perception of facial attractiveness by Emirati Muslim women living in their native Muslim country. PloS one, 13(10), e0199537.

Thinking Cultural Health. (2019, May 1). Thinking Cultural Health Case Study: Cultural and religious beliefs [video file]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKbXpuE6ZKA&feature=emb_logo