Cultural Awareness and Competence

Cultural Humility Reflection

Elderly care is one of the things that has received increased attention in the recent past as the number of older people increases in the United States. I have seen elderly people struggle with vulnerability and stress, chronic diseases, and loss of function and social relationships. As a result, I have always been interested in knowing what providing care for the elderly looks like and what it means to live and work in such an environment. For this cultural experience, I visited a nursing home in order to learn what it means and entails to provide care to older people suffering from a wide range of issues. I visited Arias Health at Harbor View on March 11, 2022. This nursing home is located at 178-198 Ogden Avenue, Jersey City, NJ. Since the purpose of the visit was to develop cultural competence in relation to caring for patients, I was there for a period of 2 hours.

I was super excited and looking forward to the visit since it was an opportunity for me to learn about elderly care and learn about cultural humility in caring for patients. However, I was also anxious and nervous since it was the first for me to visit such a facility. The nursing home was generally nice though it is designed in an institutional format. Residents of the facility have a dining room where they share their rooms as well as a meeting room where they meet with visitors. Each resident has a private room, a bedroom, and a bathroom. In addition, the facility has a small center for recreation activities and physical exercise. From my observations, the nursing home has several healthcare professionals including occupational therapists and nurses. These healthcare professionals are excellent in their work and focus on making the residents happy.

Since this was my first visit to a nursing home, I was really nervous and did not know what to expect while there. While I fell in love with the general setting and surroundings of the nursing home, I was slightly uncomfortable upon arrival because I did not know what to expect. I had so many thoughts on how healthcare professionals in this setting would receive me. I also struggled with thoughts on whether elderly people receiving care at the facility would be friendly. I thought that it would be difficult for me to have any conversations with elderly people at the facility because of their healthcare challenges or problems. I also believed that their loss of function would affect their ability to recognize me as a visitor and even be friendly. As a result of these thoughts, I was very shy, nervous, and a bit reluctant to interact with the healthcare professionals and residents within the first few minutes of my visit.

However, the healthcare professionals and residents were very friendly and welcoming. I was surprised to see how nurses at the facility were warm towards me and grateful for my visit. Elderly people receiving care at the facility were also grateful that I visited them. Their warmth made me feel relaxed and encouraged me to interact with them. My perceptions about what living and working in such a facility look like changed due to the warm reception I received from the residents and the healthcare professionals. They generally made me feel comfortable and involved me in the activities of the day. During my 2-hour visit, I participated in some activities like cleaning the compound and interacted with the residents to get a feel of what living in the nursing home is like.

From my experience at the nursing home, I have learned that it is easy to have misconceptions about a place and people. These misconceptions could come from ignorance or past experiences. In my case, my fear, nervousness, and negative thoughts were influenced by the fact that I had never visited a nursing home. This experience shows how it is easy to have misconceptions about other cultures when one has not interacted with others from a different culture. Lack of cultural awareness contributes to the development of misconceptions regarding another culture. Therefore, cultural awareness is critical towards developing cultural competence and enhancing the quality of healthcare services offered to patients.