Essay on Strategies of Cultural Competence in Nursing

An aspect of cultural competence tends to hold a significant role when it comes to nursing practice. To deal with cultural issues and needs related to a multicultural society, nurses have to struggle and remain professionally and culturally competent (Aponte, 2012). In fact, the community health nurses need to apply strategies of cultural competence while practicing through the adoption of community participatory practice-based approach. Such would assist the nurses in developing and adopting cultural know-how, strengths, tradition as well as the history of the culturally diversified societies (Halabisky et al., 2010). In addition, nurses are in a better situation of understanding the communities cultural background and features of group or individuals. Such practice reveals significance cultural aspect of diversified communities. Cultural competence strategies in nursing are as discussed:

Cultural Preservation: nurse utilizing cultural preservation has a capacity of supporting cultural practices that are methodically and scientifically excellent. For instance, a Christian patient who is just about to undergo through a major kidney surgery and the family wishes to gather and pray for her before the operation, in such a situation Nurses encourage the behaviors.

Cultural Accommodation: nurse utilizing this strategy tends to support the use of cultural practices that are considered not harmful. For example, Mexican hold the belief that placing a key or a metal on a newborn navel assists in healing. Nurses have been allowing such harmless cultural practices (Davis, 2012).

Cultural Repatterning: nurse using this strategy tends to support utilization of practice that assists the patient to adjust cultural practices that are considered harmful. For instance, nurses must agree with the patients indulged to use of herbs as part of cultural values and control her from using such herbs that have an adverse impact to health (Aponte, 2012).

Cultural Brokering: a nurse utilizing this strategy must use health and cultural science know-how and skills for negotiation with the client and care systems to ensure there is beneficial, effective and relevant health plan. For instance, a cultural broker nurse has responsibilities of bridging the gap between diverse cultures and patients (Halabisky et al., 2010).

Potential Barriers to Application of the Strategies

Some of the potential barriers that are common when applying the strategies are linguistic and cultural issues, cultural beliefs and diversity.

References:

Aponte, J. (2012). Cultural Competency in Baccalaureate US Nursing Education. Holistic Nursing Practice, 26(5), pp. 243-258.

Davis, C. (2012). Health care for homeless people: the role of emergency nurses. Emergency Nurse, 20(2), pp. 24-27.

Halabisky, B., Humbert, J., Stodel, E., Macdonald, C., Chambers, L., and Doucette, S. et al. (2010). Elearning, Knowledge Brokering, and nursing. Cin: computers, Informatics, Nursing, 28(5), pp. 264-273.