What Does Cultural Competence As A Professional Nurse Mean To You? Essay Sample

Cultural competence is the ability of an individual to listen humbly to a patient’s point of view - while withholding one’s beliefs to understand the patient from their perspective (Lauderdale, 2018). Consequently, the nursing practitioner ought to embrace tolerance and acceptance of varied cultures. Moreover, cultural competence is the ability of a nurse to accept other people’s differences and make a little adjustment to suit the needs of their patients (Lauderdale, 2018).

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

Where Do You Think You Are On The Discussed Continuum?

I strongly identify myself with extreme humility under the continuum of cultural competence – since I can humble myself and listen to others keenly – while understanding them from their point of view. However, I still need to work on my skills of accepting other people’s diversity since I sometimes fear encountering people who have varied opinions of life – for instance, gays.

How Would You Actively Exhibit These Qualities In Your Clinical Practice?

In a clinical environment, I would actively listen to my patient while asking a few questions to understand them better and make the necessary adjustments to suit my client where possible. For instance, you can have a scenario whereby I encounter a patient who professes the Muslim faith. If the patient gets reluctant when I try to offer my care, I humbly seek to know the reason for the decision. After that, I would reassure the patient of the hospital’s policy of treating everyone equally with the utmost care. However, if the patient completely refuses my care, my next move would be to look for a nurse who will make the client uneasy.

What Characteristics Would You Expect Of Yourself And Your Peers?

My peers and I are expected to be patient, have excellent communication skills, tolerant, respectful of diversity, be flexible, and think critically (Lauderdale, 2018).

If You Would Observe A Peer Not Exhibiting Cultural Competency, How Could You Change That?

I would approach the individual in their free time and explain to them the importance of diversity and inclusivity. I would aim to ensure that my peer understands that nursing and cultural competency can never get separated (Choi et al., 2016). Furthermore, I will also seek to make my friend know that cultural competency makes our work easier.

References

Choi, K. S., Lee, W. S., Park, Y. S., Jun, M., Lee, S. Y., Park, Y. ... & Vipavee, T. (2016). The relationship between cultural competency and the importance of nurses’ qualities perceived by undergraduate nursing students. Journal of Korean Academy of Community Health Nursing, 27(2), 163-172.

Lauderdale, J. (2018, December 3). Becoming a Culturally Competent Nurse [Video file]. Retrieved July 30, 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r62Zp99U67Y