Professional Communication: Cultural Sensitivity

Professional Communication: Cultural Sensitivity

Yina Cruz

Grand Canyon University: NUR-502-O101

Professor Jayme Ambrose

September 6th, 2016

I’ve always been very intrigued by the variation in customs and traditions in the many different cultural groups in the american society. Within my professional career I’ve come across many different kinds of people but for the most part have found the behavior of many patients who originate from the asian countries a bit bizarre. As a hispanic american woman it’s pretty routine for me to interact with a doctor with openness, eye contact and full disclosure of my medical history. And I wanted to learn more about a culture that's very opposite of my own.  

 This journal focuses on culturally appropriate mental health care for Asian Americans. And gave me a more in-depth insight on the thought process of many of my future asian patient. Within this paper I will not only elaborate on the cultural aspect of patient of asian descent .I decided to also focus on the spiritual aspect of their culture which is of utmost importance and can have an enormous impact on the quality of care they receive. Within this cultural background spiritually is extremely important and crucial in providing excellent patient care.  

Life’s belief to examine and interpret are some of  philosophy the chinese use

(Hsiao 2009). In the local high school in Taiwan, the ministry of education promote a compulsory course called “Life Education”, what this course initials is the current trends and traditional beliefs to help their students in lives transcend from the limitations, views on holism, and to the meaning of life develop dignity. (Chen 2004). As you can see spirituality unlike western civilization is taught in the school system in asian countries. And the patients of asian descent live their entire striving for spiritual wholeness. As health care professionals we must incorporate spirituality as one of the main denominators in a person who originates daily care. This study is indicative that spiritual care is not only general but one associated with cultural issues.  An example of what a nurse can do to satisfy spirituality amongst an asian patient and achieve the goal of cultural competency is bringing in a buddhist monk to visit them and do some meditation.  Another idea I would use is for the nurse to get someone of asian descent that knows how to do tai chi and both patients can do this exercise together. This is something I often see asian people doing outside and from my knowledge it relieves stress and anxiety.  Since this is an age of current globalization, all nurse to have awareness of the different cultures that reflect spiritual needs and the different illness. In the promotion of spiritual care a nurse must try to understand the cross-view and cross-culture of value. Within this study a health care professional can gain some guidance in order to promote education, enhancement within their clinical practice, cultural sensitivity and policy  (Yang, 2012).