Cultural Competence Health Practioner Assessment for Nurses
In this situation, the nurse must be very kind, gentle, and firm in emphasizing to the parents that urinating on a newborn baby is fairly harmful to the health and the life of the infant. In attempting to convey these sentiments, the nurse must essentially assume the role of a teacher. Firstly, he or she should explain that he or she realizes that in the native culture of the parents, such a practice is normal and probably a good tradition. However, the nurse must carefully explain that there are a number of noxious conditions that urine and such unclean bacteria can transmit. The nurse should also explain that newborn infants are particularly susceptible to diseases, infections, and other forms of maladies -- especially during their first several hours of life. Urinating on a newborn actually worsens, not increases, its chances for a healthy life. Moreover, the nurse should also convey the fact that since the baby was delivered in a westernized hospital, the parents more or less must adhere to the conventions and cultural practices of the land. The nurse should state that she is not making a value judgment, but is merely attempting to follow hospital protocol -- otherwise his or her job could be forfeit.
2. In this situation, the nurse should patiently explain to the mother that her child has a problem. That problem, of course, is that the poor child is dehydrated. The nurse should explain that dehydration can lead to some very bad effect, including a...
The nurse should also research other noxious effects of dehydration and explain them to the mother. In an effort to meet the mother halfway, however, the nurse should explain that there are probably some good benefits that the child is deriving from the tea. Still, because of the dehydration which it is causing, the nurse should prevail upon the mother to significantly decrease the amount that the child is drinking. The nurse can discern the amount of fluids than an individual needs (from good hydrating sources, such as water) and then determine an amount of tea that the child can also drink so that he or she is no longer dehydrated.
3. This situation does not expressly sound like a cultural situation, and seems more indicative of a general disregard for punctuality on the part of an individual. However, there are cultures in which people tend to be tardier than others, so nurses should still approach talking to such a patient in a matter befitting of cultural differences. The nurse should begin by explaining that more than likely the individual has a very good reason for being tardy, and that the nurse is certainly not attempting to infringe on the schedule of the individual. However, the nurse should politely and respectfully intimate that by running late, the patient is actually infringing upon the schedule of the nurse and the hospital organization. She should relate the fact that perhaps by scheduling the individual's appointments later in the day, or even if he…
