Cultural Competence in Health Service Practice Order Instructions: Using CultureMate© identify a local government area that has a clinical partnership with Monash, where you are likely to undertake a clinical placement during your degree e.g. – City of Greater Dandenong – Dandenong Hospital – Monash Health.
Using the Communication Toolkit research the catchment community of the health service.
Describe the main countries of birth in this municipality, demographic composition, languages are spoken and organizations and services available to this community.
Choose a prominent cultural community in this region and using the ‘Community Profile’ tool describe the cultural characteristics and cultural values of this group you have chosen.
Compare and Contrast this with the cultural values of the Australian culture or your personal cultural background. Reflect on the many ways in which culture influences you including social norms, sanctions, values, a way of life, beliefs, communication, major life transitions (birth, death) and how you respond to authority, how you parent etc.
Using the literature, describe the characteristics of a culturally competent health care workforce and health care system.
Use the marking rubric to guide your writing.
Presentation requirements: Please observe the following formatting instructions:
This is an academic piece of writing: follow academic writing principals
You must use CultureMate to complete the assessment task
Reference using APA 6: See Rubric for details
Double spaced word document, numbered pages, student ID on every page
Cultural Competence in Health Service Practice Sample Answer
Cultural Competence in Practice
Using the CultureMate tool, the Victoria State was chosen with the main focus on the City of Greater Dandenong. This area partners clinically with Monash. This is also the area where the degree’s clinical placement will be undertaken. When interacting with community members to offer care to them, there is a great need to ensure that one is culturally competent. This goes a long way in ensuring that the exact needs of the patients are identified. In turn, the most competent and appropriate care is offered. There are theories that can guide healthcare professionals in the provision of the most appropriate care. Applying these, together with adhering to professional codes of practice and code of ethics can guide professionals in the provision of transculturally competent care. The aim of this paper is discussing cultural competence care, after an analysis using the CultureMate tool with a focus on Victoria, City of Greater Dandenong.
Main countries of birth for Cultural Competence in Health Service Practice
The main countries of birth as identified from the communication plan were India, United Kingdom, Italy, New Zealand, Cambodia, Bosnia, and China excluding Taiwan and SARs. There was an analysis of the percentage of people from these regions in 2011 and 2006. A comparison was done consequently (Jeffreys, 2016).
At the same time, there were emerging communities that were slowly taking over Greater Dandenong. An analysis by the country made it evident that these included countries like Colombia, Liberia, Bulgaria, Zimbabwe, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Taiwan, United Arabs Emirates, Korea, and Nepal.
Demographic composition on Cultural Competence in Health Service Practice
The main demographic composition in the City of Greater Dandenong is the Indian-born resident, Afghans, Vietnamese, and Sri Lankans. Therefore, the city has dynamic religious faiths including the Islam- 11%, Buddhism- 18%, Christianity- 50%, and Hinduism- 4%. Almost 64% of the residents in the city use other languages but English (Westera, 2016).
Languages are spoken at Cultural Competence in Health Service Practice
The languages used in the city by most of the people are different from English. They include Sinhalese, Punjabi, Greek, Chinese, Khmer, and Vietnamese.
Organizations and services available in this community
This community has several services and organizations. The 3CR (Community Radio) is a community and dynamic hub that offers radio services for those lacking access to mass media, and more so the indigenous people, women, and working class. The 21st Century Chinese News is basically for the Chinese people and airs weekly on Wednesdays. ‘Australian Mosaic’- Federation of Ethnic Communities Councils of Australia represents Australians from linguistically and culturally diverse backgrounds. Its role is lobbying, advocating, and promoting issues on the behalf of the business, government and the broader community (Govere & Govere, 2016). 3ZZZ Ethnic Public Broadcasting Association of Victoria is a radio station that is community-based and the biggest ethnic community station. Its aim is fostering and preserving the culture and languages of the ethnic community. There is also the Australian Chinese Community Association and Indian Television Broadcasting Association. These are some of the services that the people in this community use, among others (Westera, 2016).
Prominent cultural community and Cultural Competence in Health Service Practice
The prominent cultural community in the City of Greater Dandenong is the Indians. The population of the Indians in this place over 6000.
Cultural characteristics and cultural values- community profile
There are some languages among the Indians that are not recognized as official. Hindi is recognized as the official language by the central government. The caste system’s traditions and Hinduism influences have enhanced a culture which focuses on the established hierarchical relationships a lot. The Indians are ever conscious of the social order as well as their status as far as the strangers, friends, and family are concerned (Pérez & Luquis, 2008). Regardless of the kind of relationship, the hierarchy is always involved. The Indians typically define themselves based on the groups they associate with as opposed to the individual status. Therefore, people are normally affiliated to the specific religion, career path, family, city, region, and a specific state. Close ties are maintained with families.
They do not have a tendency to say no to anything. On the contrary, they offer an affirmative answer but are deliberately vague about the specific details. The social class, education, and religion influence greetings Muecke, Lenthall & Lindeman, 2011). The most senior or eldest person is greeted first. When leaving some group, everyone should be bid goodbye individually. There is a belief that gifts ease the transition to next life. Red, green, and yellow are the lucky colors, and therefore, used for gift wrapping. They are also good at entertaining in their homes. There are some foods that the Indians never take including beef, alcohol, and pork (Rundle, Carvalho & Robinson, 1999). Business transactions are mostly with those they are familiar with. Those with the highest authority make most decisions. Successful negotiations are normally celebrated over meals.
Comparison of the cultural community to the Australian cultural values
There are many differences between the Australian and Indian cultural lifestyles. These are based on the relationships, time, gender, age, fate, belonging, and face among others. The Australians are highly individualistic, where they place more focus on the self and cherish independence over the group likes and preferences. High value is given to self-serving practices and goal, and there is personal control over choices. They take credit and accept blame readily. On the other hand, the Indians have very high regard for the groups and family. There is high influence from the group thoughts. Allegiance is normally pledged to the group. People are respected for the status (Ray, 2016).
The Australians have the low context communication where language is relied on to mean the exact thing. They never beat about the bush. On the other hand, the Indians’ messages are highly subtle as well as heavy with implications. They save face and aim at avoiding humiliation. The Indians regard the class system with a lot of regards, as noted earlier. The Australians think that people are equally as good as the other, and based on this, there is no difference in education, work, and social issues. This simply shows that when dealing with people from these two backgrounds, there should be a keen differentiation and everyone should be treated differently (Olaussen & Renzaho, 2016).
How culture influences a person- major life transitions, communication, beliefs, a way of life, values, sanctions, social norm, response to authority, parenting
There is no doubt that culture has a very huge effect on every person. This is the reason why healthcare professionals are normally advised to consider the cultural backgrounds of their patients. This aims at understanding the practices and reasoning of the patient. The major life transitions such as death are carried out based on the cultural background of a person. For example, after giving birth, there is a particular way in which a woman should be care for be caring on the culture. At the same time, breastfeeding practices and naming depend on the culture. After death of a the person, there are several practices depending on the culture (Maville & Huerta, 2008).
Communication, both non-verbal and verbal, is dependent on the culture. Understanding the non-verbal communication cues is very important, and more so when dealing with patients. This enhances a detailed understanding and, therefore, efficient and competent care. Depending on the beliefs that a patient has, the treatment practices should be adjusted accordingly Muecke, Lenthall & Lindeman, 2011). While holding a deep regard for them is essential, the provider should also be keen to correct those that are inappropriate. People lead their lives based on where they come from or the requirements of their culture. The kind of foods taken and dressing are highly dependent on the culture. This also applies to parenting where some parents are very authoritative, and more so the dads, since such cultures are paternal. In these cultures, the children mostly have more respect for their dads compared to the mothers (Cowen & Moorhead, 2011).
How people respond to the authorities, even at the workplace, depends on the way they were brought up. For example, a man may be abusive to the women at the workplace if he grew up knowing that the females are inferior. There is no doubt that the social norms and sanctions everyone employs are highly dependent on the place where a person comes from. In this case, there is a great need to ensure that healthcare professionals have the tools to assist them with cultural assessment. Essentially, this is the basis for culturally competent care in that if the needs and pressures the patient is facing are not identified from the start, then the whole healthcare process would be useless.
Characteristics of a culturally competent healthcare workforce and healthcare system
Cultural Competence in Health Service Practice for the Workforce
Healthcare professionals that are culturally competent focus a lot on interpersonal interactions. This is aimed at knowing the patient more so as to identify the exact needs, after which the most appropriate care is offered. The preparedness and ability of the healthcare provider to promote effective interactions with the patients is highly dependent on the provider’s behaviors, skills, attitudes, and knowledge. Therefore, professionals that are culturally competent ensure that their values and aspects are for the good of the patients (Chang & Daly, 2015).
These professionals are always able to view the patient as someone who is totally unique. At the same time, he or she can maintain unconditional positive approach when approaching everyone he or she deals with. Moreover, the professional can build effective rapport, explore patient beliefs, use bio-psychosocial model and various models and theories in articulating the needs of the patients, establish a common ground as far as the treatment plans are concerned, and knows the meaning of illness and values. Through this dynamism, the healthcare professional is able to know the exact needs of every patient, which is very important in ensuring that the treatment being given is proper (Raingruber, 2016). Cultural competence is the another feature of these professionals, in that they are aware of different cultural backgrounds and apply the respective one depending on the patient receiving care. Moreover, there is patient centeredness where the professional focuses more on the patient with the intent of offering the most appropriate care. This entails the use of patient-centered models that have detailed sets of skills and knowledge that the providers need to portray and possess so as to manage offering competent care. When the professional realizes that there as some things making the patient to be uncomfortable, they should be approached well and addressed (Moss, 2016).
The culturally competent providers are always able to deal with ethnic and racial disparities. The decisions that a provider should never be biased based on the race or ethnic group of the patient. Increasing patient’s involvement is a very good way of ensuring that any disparities are reduced. The respect, empathy, and warmth involved in a care environment should never wane based on the patient receiving care (Farnbach, Eades & Hackett, 2015). The providers are also very intent on recognizing the non-verbal cues being used by the patients, and these are normally dependent on the cultural background of a patient (Muecke, Lenthall & Lindeman, 2011). Hence, quality relationships between the provider and patient can help differentiate between professionals that are culturally competent and those are not.
These providers are also able to understand the importance and meaning of culture. Moreover, interpreter services are used effectively whenever possible. This is more so in the case where the healthcare provider has not even a single idea about the patient’s cultural background. The professionals also communicate effectively to all patients regardless of their color.
Cultural Competence in Health Service Practice System
Healthcare systems that are culturally competent are normally very intent at ensuring that there are interpreters from different cultural backgrounds. These assist whenever there is a need to offer care to patients from minority backgrounds. As such, the patient’s exact needs are identified and dealt with. As such, there are no instances of errors or re-hospitalizations. Moreover, patient satisfaction also increases, and this ensures that the patients are loyal clients to the institution. Alternatively, the institution employs workers from diverse backgrounds. As such, there is no discrimination during recruitment on the basis of race or ethnicity. In the presence of such employees, there would be no challenges offering care to the diverse patients as they can be called in to assist. Their presence would matter most during the healthcare assessments (Stanley, 2016).
Healthcare systems that are culturally competent and patient centered include of processes and structures aimed at improving the patient-centered outcomes as well as promoting equity. The general services are also fashioned based on the preferences and needs of the patients. Moreover, the healthcare institution releases educational materials regularly, which are always tailored to the needs of patients, preferred language, and health literacy. There is a cultural competence and awareness program that is followed strictly (University of Michigan—Flint, 2011). Regular trainings are offered so that the healthcare professionals are always in a position to offer the most appropriate and competent care. Those who go against the cultural competence required are punished accordingly for failing to consider the patient as a unique and special person.
Cultural Competence in Health Service Practice Conclusion
From the foregoing discussion, it has been established that cultural competence and awareness are very vital aspects in the provision of care. Culturally competent healthcare professionals are always armed with the skills of offering the most appropriate care. They communicate effectively depending on the cultural background of the patient, and aim at identifying the non-verbal cues. This should be done during the assessment stage. Healthcare systems and institutions also need to embrace the approaches to cultural competence considering that the world has gradually become globalized, and interactions with people from different backgrounds have increased.
Cultural Competence in Health Service Practice References
Chang, E., & Daly, J. (2015). Transitions in Nursing: Preparing for Professional Practice. Elsevier Health Sciences APAC.
Cowen, P. S., & Moorhead, S. (2011). Current issues in nursing. St. Louis, Mo: Mosby Elsevier.
Jeffreys, M. R. (2016). Teaching cultural competence in nursing and health care: Inquiry, action, and innovation. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Maville, J. A., & Huerta, C. G. (2008). Health promotion in nursing. Clifton Park, NY: Thomson Delmar Learning.
Moss, M. P. (2016). American Indian health and nursing. Clifton Park, NY: Thomson Delmar Learning.
Pérez, M. A., & Luquis, R. R. (2008). Cultural competence in health education and health promotion. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Raingruber, B. (2016). Contemporary Health Promotion In Nursing Practice. Sudbury: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Ray, M. A. (2016). Transcultural caring dynamics in nursing and health care. Philadelphia: F.A. Davis Company.
Rundle, A. K., Carvalho, M., & Robinson, M. (1999). Cultural competence in health care: A practice guide. San Francisco, Calif: Jossey-Bass.
Stanley, D. (2016). Clinical Leadership in Nursing and Healthcare: Values into Action. Newark: Wiley.
University of Michigan–Flint. (2011). Online journal of cultural competence in nursing and healthcare. Flint, Mich: University of Michigan – Flint, Dept. of Nursing.
Westera, D. A. D. R. N. M. N. M. E. (2016). Spirituality in Nursing Practice: The Basics and Beyond. New York: Springer Publishing Company.
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Farnbach, S., Eades, A. M., & Hackett, M. L. (2015). Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-focused primary healthcare social and emotional wellbeing research: a systematic review protocol. Systematic Reviews, 4.
Muecke, A., Lenthall, S., & Lindeman, M. (2011). Culture shock and healthcare workers in remote Indigenous communities of Australia: what do we know and how can we measure it?. Rural and Remote Health, 11, 2.)
