Question

Case Study 1: Lisa Luther

Name: Lisa Luther     Age: 90

This is Lisa Luther. Lisa has been a resident in Lotus Compassionate Care for two years. Lisa moved to the centre after being diagnosed with early-stage Alzheimer. She loves staying in the centre as all the staff and care workers are very supportive in helping her cope with the difficulties brought about by the disease. Lisa is also suffering from hearing and vision loss; Her left hear is completely deaf, while her right ear has moderate hearing loss. Lisa wears a hearing aid on her right ear. Both her eyes have cataracts that render her eyes with moderate visual impairment. Lisa is a vegan and has been a vegan for the most of her life.

Scenario 1

While assisting another client eat lunch in the centre’s common dining area, you noticed that the care worker attending to Lisa is serving her meat. Having cared for Lisa in the past, you know that Lisa is vegan and does not eat or use meat products. You informed the care worker that Lisa follows a vegan diet. The care worker told you that Lisa is not lucid and will not even know what she had lunch.

How ` you ensure that Lisa’s cultural needs are met? Guidance: in your explanation, provide an example of such cultural needs and what you can do to ensure it is accepted and upheld.

Answer 1

Many nurses have developed assumptions about different cultures over time, often because there was a fundamental lack of accurate education about that particular culture. Cultural assumptions and the lack of knowledge of culture can create unique challenges for both nurses and patients.

To ensure a provision of Culturally Sensitive Care the nurse must follow:

1. Awareness: As with any social issue, the first step is awareness. We are here as health care professionals, which means we have a degree of awareness about the need for culturally competent care. As we strive to learn more about becoming a culturally sensitive nurse, let others know what we’re doing and why. Encourage our co-workers to provide more culturally competent care. Approach sharing awareness with openness and positivity, rather than from a critical point of view.

2. Avoid Making Assumptions: It’s important that we as nurses avoid making assumptions about cultures we aren’t familiar with and also educate the same to our co workers. This can lead to a breakdown of trust and rapport between the us and our patient.

If we are unsure about something, let us simply ask. Most people of different cultures will happily educate a healthcare provider who is willing to listen and understand their cultural differences.

3. Learn About Other Cultures: As a nurse, part of our responsibility to our patient is to learn what we can about them. Often, this is reduced to their medical history, their list of medications, and their current symptoms. Make an effort to learn about those cultures by becoming immersed in them.

4. Build Trust and Rapport: It’s essential for nurses to build trust with their patients, regardless of ethnic or racial backgrounds. However, treating culturally diverse patients require a heightened level of trust to be established, which can become even more difficult when there’s a language barrier.

5. Practice Active Listening: Active listening in the healthcare community is imperative, especially when individuals of different racial or cultural backgrounds are involved. It’s important that patients feel heard and validated, particularly when they are in a vulnerable position.

6. Educate: As a nurse its not enough that we alone become culturally sensitive. In fact it is our duty to educate the same to our fellow workers and those who are involved in providing constant care to the patients. As in this case, we must instill the seriousness of being culturally sensitive in the mind of the care worker and never take any patient for granted irrespective of their physical or mental condition.

In today’s changing cultural climate, it’s no longer a choice to become culturally sensitive, it’s a necessity. Nurses will need to work hard at becoming aware of cultural differences and providing culturally competent care. The payoff is significant though — culturally sensitive care builds provider to patient trust and rapport, increases treatment acceptance and opens the door for continuing education about important health matters in cultural communities that need it.   

One such example of meeting cultural needs is We must always be aware of how to use the patient's first name or would they prefer a more formal style like Mr, Mrs or Ms? How should we address a Sikh or a Muslim?

Particular attention must be paid to dietary requirements and all aspects of food preparation must be respected. Special arrangements may need to be made to accommodate individual’s needs.