Fortunately because the nurse had called the husband he walked in at that moment and signed the consent. This article illustrates the importance of understanding various cultural beliefs and using that understanding to provide more comfortable care for the patient. It also cautions against using that understanding to ignore patient concerns or requests.

The article drives home the fact that no one can be sure that another person's beliefs are wrong. The answer when it comes to cultural diversity is education. Educating nursing staff members to become familiar with various cultures and understand their importance to the patients of those cultures will make a significant difference in the comfort and stress level that the patients will encounter (Galanti, 2001)

The article also stresses the...

One example is of a doctor from India treating a woman of Irish descent. The doctor discounted her complaints of pain because in his homeland women are very vocal about pain, however, in Ireland they are not and the family was concerned when she began to complain. He ignored the complaints until it was to late to save the patient's life and she died.
The article stresses the importance of not letting one's own cultural beliefs dominate objective medical care decisions on the part of the medical staff.

REFERENCE

The Challenge of Serving and Working with Diverse Populations in American Hospitals by Geri-Ann Galanti, Ph.D. Published in The Diversity Factor, Volume 9, number 3, pages 21-26 in Spring 2001