Ethnocentrism In Nursing

Improved Essays
As the population in Ohio becomes more diverse, there’s an increased need for nurses to understand patients’ ideas of health and illness from a cultural perspective. A person’s world view is determined by many factors such as ethnic background, socioeconomic status, ability or disability, sexual orientation, age, gender, or occupation (Andrews & Boyle, 2016-a). Experience alone does not adequately prepare the nurse to provide care that is culturally competent. Knowledge from a formal course, or in-service is one step that a nurse can take to ensure that care given to minority patients is equal to care given to the majority population (Alpers & Hanssen, 2014). In this discussion, I will define some common transcultural terms, define self-assessment …show more content…
This is referred to as cultural baggage, and we may or may not be aware of these influences. In order to provide patient care that is culturally competent, it’s essential for the nurse to perform a cultural self-assessment to identify thoughts, ideas and behaviors that are barriers to providing high quality nursing care. Part of the process of self-evaluation involves understanding the concepts of ethnocentrism, cultural imposition, prejudice, and discrimination, and evaluating how they impact our views. Ethnocentrism occurs when someone from a particular group views that group as superior to others because of the values and behaviors of their culture that they assimilated over time. Ethnocentrism often causes the group that thinks that they are superior to others, impose their beliefs, values and practices to other groups. This behavior is called cultural imposition. Nurses should also be aware of prejudice and discrimination in their practice. Prejudice occurs when someone has inaccurate beliefs about others based on ethnicity, race gender, orientation, disability, religion, etc. Discrimination describes the act of treating someone differently because of those same differences (Andrews & Boyle, …show more content…
However, it is beneficial for nurses to have a cultural understanding of the groups that the nurse frequently encounters. Overtime as nurses encounter additional groups more frequently, they should update their skills and knowledge. Cultural congruence places the patient at the center of care and delivers individualized care. It involves framing the patient’s plan of care around of the patient’s cultural values, beliefs, thoughts, and attitudes (Campinha-Bacote,

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Cultural Safety

    • 1100 Words
    • 5 Pages

    but she began to understand why her opinions and culture mattered as a nurse. (Bryson, 2012). “There is more than meets the eye, and if you look more deeply, everything affects everything else – this was the realisation that challenged my opinion” said (Bryson, 2012, p, 51). The cultural safety concept does not teach or expect nurses to know other ethnicities but simply to acknowledge and respect other people regardless if they different to them. (Bryson, 2012).…

    • 1100 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Cultural bias is taking one’s own culture as superior and treating other’s cultures inferior. That imagination leads to lot of discriminations especially in dealing with indigenous clients. Therefore, I will try to learn to minimize cultural bias when dealing with multicultural clients as I get more experience and knowledge on that subject. I will try to handle them in their own way which lead them feel better. As an enrolled nurse I will learn more on my clients back grounds and cultural facts to avoid cultural bias and will provide a quality care for…

    • 1245 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Cultural competency is vital to the role of nurses within the United States due to the fact that there are so many cultures and populations represented within our country. This is a wonderful thing, but having so many different people in one place can cause problems. Cultures differ greatly from one another in many different ways, including the way that healthcare is approached. In order to provide transcultural nursing care, there are three modes of decisions and actions that can guide each encounter to promote health. These methods include cultural care preservation or maintenance, accommodation or negotiation, and repatterning or restructuring.…

    • 374 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ethnocentrism occurs when a nurse perceives his/her own culture as superior to others (Lowdermilk, Perry, Cashion, Alden, Olchansky, 2016, p. 23). Overcoming this biased perception is essential to delivering competent and relevant care to patients. With the increasing rates of Hispanics residing in the United States, Hispanics seeking medical care, and Hispanics giving birth, it is necessary for nurses to be aware of, acknowledge, and adapt to the culture in order to provide satisfactory, adequate…

    • 1058 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    How culture and ethnicity may affect a person's physical and psychological health? Nurses often work with diverse populations with complexity in health and psychosocial problems, assisting them to promote wellness, whether regarding their mental or physical states, their environments, or their social habits, lifestyles, and choices. Nurses need to examine ways their cultural background may influence nursing care when working with patients from different cultural and ethnic groups. The article of Jackson et al., (2010) in their great work titled, "Women Health Centers and Minority Women: Addressing Barriers to Care" discussed the three barriers to identified and recognized access to health care of minority women. The barriers include policy,…

    • 1528 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Native American Culture

    • 1172 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Native American Culture and Health Care Bryan Stull West Virginia University-Parkersburg Nursing 234 Native American Culture and Health Care According to Jean Giddens (2013), “culture is defined as a pattern of shared attitudes, beliefs, self-definitions, norms, roles, and value that can occur among those who speak a particular language or live in a defined geographical region.” There are several different types of cultures that exist in the world. Each culture has its own belief on medical practices and rituals.…

    • 1172 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Cultural Competence Healthcare is becoming diverse with the patient population from many different race, cultures and ethnicity. Nurses take care of patients from many different types of heritage and background, therefore we need to be culturally competent while providing care. By taking the Cultural Diversity Self-Assessment (IllinoisCTE, n.d.), I was able to determine my own beliefs toward different cultures. The assessment tool is comprised of a one to five rating scale in regards to how strongly I agree with a question.…

    • 931 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Congruent Care Interview

    • 888 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Maria believes that nurses can provide appropriate care for culturally diverse patients if they see everyone as equal, “Although, the first people we see is the nurse. I, as a patient, assume that the nurse is being bias, when in reality he or she is only doing their job” (M. Avina, personal communication, (11/4/2015). Asking her to elaborate, she explains that she thinks it all starts from the top, “It’s the healthcare facilities and hospitals that need to improve their way of picking and choosing who gets treated first,” she continued, “ respect is a big thing too, because nurses can learn how to respect us. Sometimes, when we’re at the hospital, I don’t feel respected. Nurses can learn to do that, that’ll help,” (M. Avina, personal communication,…

    • 888 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Becoming culturally competent is not an easy task because it truly requires a nurse to be a good person who could have the ability to empathize and understand another person's points of view, feelings, and circumstances. Not every nurse has this ability or patience to be culturally competent, or even if they have the cultural competence, there is no guarantee that they are willing to advocate for their clients under extreme circumstances. The Process of Cultural Competence in the Delivery of Healthcare Services has illustrated the five basic requirements for nurses to determine their knowledge and understanding for cultural competence --- skill, knowledge, desire, awareness, and encounters (Kersey-Matusiak, 2012). Nurses must be aware of the consequences of stereotyping and cultural egocentrism. This topic eventually transitions to another topic: Equality deserved in healthcare settings.…

    • 1308 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Cultural Diversity and Its Influence on Nursing Practice Cultural Diversity is a key component to quality patient centered care. The Nurse needs to be aware of their own cultural attitudes. It is also very import that as nurses we understand the patient’s cultural preferences and needs. Cultural competence is becoming more important because of the increase in cultural diversity in our country. In the United States 13% of our population was not born in this country and another 8-10million are living here without documentation.…

    • 878 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Competent Cultural Care

    • 349 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Studying different cultures is vital for healthcare professionals because they are less subjective to bias and become culturally competent. When a physician is generalizing a patient stereotype based solely on their culture, they are neglecting to communicate properly and cause the patient to feel like they are not being heard (Blair, Steiner, & Havrankek, 2011). In the Youtube video “Incompetent vs. Competent Cultural Care”, there are two portrayals of how to appropriately approach issues such as cultural identity, practices such as cupping that could appear as signs of abuse, and a doctor who learns that in other cultures families must receive medical information before patient (DiversityNursing, 2011). In the case of this video, a nurse…

    • 349 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Cultural assessments are important in identifying exclusive necessities a patient may present with. In this paper I 'm going to discuss the key components of conducting a comprehensive cultural assessment. I will then go on to choose two of these components and reflect on my culture and how it impacts my attitude towards those aspects of providing cultural diverse care. Finally, I will create two nursing diagnosis is that reflect cultural diversity. Key Components of a Comprehensive Cultural Assessment There are twelve key components of conducting a comprehensive cultural assessment which include biocultural variations and aspects of the incidence of disease, communication, cultural affiliation, cultural sanctions and restrictions, developmental considerations, economics, education background, health related beliefs, kinship and social networks, nutrition, religion and spirituality, and values orientation.…

    • 1265 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Conducting cultural assessments on each individual patient is a necessity in nursing. This paper will describe some of the key components of conducting a comprehensive cultural assessment. I will also choose two of the listed components and reflect on my own culture and how it could possibly impact my attitude toward a patient of a different culture. Lastly, I will create two nursing diagnoses, for a patient who comes into a physician’s office that I work for, with a newly diagnosed problem. These diagnoses will reflect cultural diversity that might pose a barrier to communication with this patient.…

    • 2071 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    Culture “determines the lens through which all other aspects of life are viewed and experienced and includes an individual’s health beliefs and practices” (Black, 2017, p. 250). I need to be sensitive to the cultural differences of my fellow health care professionals. Culture is influenced by ones family, past experiences, and religious beliefs. We are all different, so I must remain open-minded and increase my knowledge base of other cultures around me. My fellow health care professionals and myself have a common goal, to improve patient outcomes and health.…

    • 1219 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Understanding cultural beliefs is critical part of nursing care (Bastable,…

    • 728 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays