The Role of Nurses in Chinese Culture - Research Paper Example

? Assessment of Chinese Culture Lecturer: The research carried out comprehensive assessment of Chinese culture. The researcher provided a brief introduction on the way diverse cultural beliefs and practices can impact the roles of nurses. The researcher employed interview method to interview one of the Chinese with well conservative Chinese culture living, in America. From the research interview, it was found that many Chinese avoid direct eye contact when communicating with others. Chinese also have diverse health beliefs and practices that vary from one community to another; hence likely to impact the roles of primary healthcare providers. These cultural aspects included different religious beliefs, eating habits and diverse beliefs towards family planning methods. Through cultural biasness created, the researcher realized that Chinese distance themselves when communicating with other, avoid too many question by keeping silent and have a sense of humor. The researcher recommended nurses to build trusting relationships, advance their medical training programs and learn to communicate effectively in a multicultural environment. Lastly, the conclusion summarized what the researcher discussed under the research topic. Assessment of Chinese Culture Introduction Culture is an essential aspects and it plays significant roles in life of many people across the globe. Chinese culture is one of the oldest cultures that have been studied across the globe. The Chinese culture is dominant in the Eastern Asia whereby tradition, norms and values vary significantly among the provinces. They have different cultural components such as martial arts, music, cuisine and many others. Cultural diversity enriches Chinese, yet it also poses varied challenges for nurses. This is because Chinese have cultural beliefs towards traditional medicines and such beliefs influences them on the way they treat illness and what constitutes good healthcare. They have beliefs on the way a person experiences and respond to pain or when one needs treatment. Nurses work with different people from diverse cultural backgrounds in order to deliver culturally competent healthcare. Therefore, nurses must embrace and understand varied cultural aspects in order to offer their patients culturally acceptable pain management. They should also be aware of the cultural beliefs, values and customs that might influence the patient’s responses to pain. Cultural belief can impact the role of nurses; thus, it is significant for nurses to stereotype patients in regard to cultural aspects. This will help nurses to understand the cultural patterns in order to deliver effective services. Thus, the research offers an assessment of Chinese culture and the way these cultural beliefs can impact the role of nurses; thus offering effective recommendations vital for improving nursing care in a multicultural environment. Summary of Chinese Cultural Aspects Chinese have different cultural aspects ranging from lifestyles, health practices, health beliefs and other different cultural aspects. A comprehensive interview was carried out in order to examine the way nurses build their nursing relationship with patients from different cultural areas. The qualitative data were collected through open-ended interviews in order to determine in case cultural lifestyles, health practices and health beliefs among the Chinese impact nursing roles. One man who is an M.D from a private health care organization and well conservative of Chinese culture, but living in America was interviewed. It was found that Chinese have varied health beliefs and practices that should be taken into consideration when dealing with Chinese patients. First, it was found that many Chinese avoid direct eye contact when communicating with others. For instance, many Asians consider it being disrespectful when looking at someone directly into the eye and this is likely to impact the roles of nurses in the hospital settings (Sagar, 2011). A Chinese patient may avoid eye contact with the nurses because of the superior status of the nurses. This is because they view direct eye contacts as one way of sexual invitation especially between a man and a woman. For instance, in public or crowded places, the Chinese avoid looking someone directly by trying to look down. Secondly, Chinese have health beliefs and practices that vary from one community to another; hence likely to impact the roles of primary healthcare providers. For instance, the Chinese traditional herbs have been one of the common oldest types of medicine across the globe. Traditional health care providers including herbal medicine, acupuncture and moxibustion are the commonly offered to patients (Wallin and Ahlstrom, 2010). The Chinese beliefs that illness results due to witchcrafts and curses whereby; thus they trust witch doctors. Others may seek traditional herbs in order to cure the diseases because they believe that traditional medicine are good than western medicines. For instance, mental illness is believed to result due to lack of harmony in emotions. Home remedies are always practiced such as treating minor ailments including colds or skin diseases with traditional herbs. Furthermore, many Chinese fear blood transfusion or avoid surgery because they believe that the body should be avoided from direct contact with another person or nurses. Thirdly, the Chinese have different religious believes with different practices and family planning practices. For instance, the catholic discourage the believers from using condoms and carrying out family planning practices. Since China have a family policy that limit the family the number of children they can have, birth control practices and pregnancy prevention methods are commonly discussed, as well as, abortion are much common. Although, some religious conviction have attempted to debate over the family planning and abortion issued, but it is still practiced in many places due to fear of having many children especially the girl child (Lo, 2010). The IUDs are widely used but birth control bills are increasing because they are readily accessible to many Chinese women. Moreover, other religious groups such as Muslims and Buddhism emphasizes on dressing styles. For instance, Muslim women are supposed to cover their heads with veils and wear long dresses as assign of respect to men. Lastly, the Chinese have eating habit and mostly they prefer tradition cuisines. Vaughn, Jacquez and Baker (2009) argue that health attributions influence health beliefs and subsequent health behaviors, but the health attributions are partly shaped by different cultural aspects. The culture beliefs influence the health practices, health attributions towards illness, treatment and other health practices. For instance, the meal patterns for Chinese are usually three meals a day, whereby they eat light breakfast with dinner being the heaviest. Patients may not eat certain meals because of the beliefs about illness. Therefore, they prefer eating food that is used for treating certain diseases. The usual diet includes noodles and rice is the important staples and health diet for Chinese people. Meat is eaten in small quantities but a lot of vegetables are frequently consumed and in most cases consumed with meat. The hot beverages such as tea are frequently consumed because the Chinese believes that cold water shocks the body system. Cultural Biases and Behaviors During the interview section, the M.D distanced himself and always avoided eye contact with the interviewer. The space particularly the level of comfort linked to personal space is also one of the cultural attributes that is taken into considerations. His behavior of creating a distance is well attached to cultural beliefs when communicating with someone. For instance, the space, eye contact and touch aspects vary from one region to another. The Chinese patient may avoid close contact with the nurse and this is likely to impact the role of nurses in the hospital settings. Culture is an essential factor of promoting wellness, but it can impact the health of patients and the role of nurses in case it is not taken into considerations. Jeffreys (2010) argues that culture is an essential factor for preventing illness, restoring health, promoting wellness and enhancing quality of life in different communities. Therefore, nurses should respond to the client’s cultural values, traditions and beliefs in order to meet the needs of their clients effectively. In addition, from the interview section, the researcher realized that asking too many questions seemed to be disrespectful. This is because the interview kept silent when asked too many questions. Therefore, the silence was deemed a sign of respect to the interviewer. The use of first names was also a sign of disrespect; thus, it was found that when talking to someone, use of surname was one way of showing respect. The Chinese also do not like any stranger to touch them; so gestures such as nodding head or slight bow gesture was commonly used as a way of communication style. The common language that is used is the Chinese though there are other languages used such as Cantonese and Mandarin (Mixer, 2008). Others communicate English, but many of them who spoke English were not the first generation. The Chinese also have terrific sense of humor and this was realized when the interviewer was interviewing the M.D. The Chinese can laugh at themselves in case they have a comfortable affiliation with another person. However, one should be ready to laugh at himself or herself in case given the suitable circumstances. Moreover, the etiquette is emphasized especially the dressing style. For instance, the business attires are conservative and self-effacing. Men should wear conservative business suits, which are dark colored, but women should wear conservative clothes with high neckline. Recommendations to Improve Nursing Care Based On the Findings Miscommunication is always common in the hospital settings; thus, it is recommendable to communicate effectively when dealing with different cultures, in the Chinese region. Miscommunication is commonly realized when patients and hospital staffs speak different languages; thus creating communication barriers (Sobo and Loustaunau, 2010). More subtle problems arise in many hospital settings due to cultural differences and non-verbal behaviors. Therefore, understanding the cultural norms and customs of Chinese people will enable nurses to facilitate and reduce miscommunication issues, in the hospital settings. Griger (2013) argues that many subtle problems arise due to communication problems in the hospital settings. Therefore, this can be overcome by understanding and learning other cultural languages. Understanding the non-verbal communication methods employed in the communication process is also crucial. For instance, the non-verbal communication for the Chinese people speaks volumes. It is recommendable to maintain harmony through relying on facial expression that cannot create conflicts. The Chinese strive for maintaining harmony and many of them are group dependent; thus, they rely upon facial expression such as tone of voice and body gestures. This is essential because facial expression and body gestures communicate a lot about the feelings of someone. Furthermore, frowning while someone is talking is always taken as a sign of conflict; thus, nurses should avoid frowning while communicating with their clients. Therefore, nurses should maintain an emotionless or impassive expression when they are communicating with their clients in order to avoid conflicts. Medical educator should offer effective training programs and include cultural educations programs basing on cultural health beliefs. This is crucial because different culture groups have varied belief with regard to health and healing in comparison to western model of medicine. Educating nurses to understand the different cultural towards treatment and other cultural behaviors is essential. This is because it will help to reduce case of cultural biasness toward their patients; thus enabling nurses to deliver effective services. Sloan, Gough and Conner (2010) suggest that nurses should understand people’s attribute causes of illness, their habit and negative emotions states. This is essential because understanding such factors will enable healthcare providers to deliver effective services in the healthcare settings. Lastly, nurses should establish a trusting relationship with their clients or patients when in the line of duty. This is essential because it will reduce cases of cultural biasness that may create an impact between nurses and patients. Eriksson and Nilsson (2008) offer precondition necessary for nurses to build a trusting relationship during the health counseling of patients. Trust is one of the significant aspects of reducing cases such as cultural biasness and other conflicting issues that may arise in the healthcare environment. Creating also respectful communication can reduce chances of conflicts when dealing with diverse cultures. Therefore, this respectful communication can be created through trust whereby nurses need to build a trusting relationship with their clients in order to improve their service delivery. Conclusions In conclusion, the researcher assessed the Chinese culture and the way their cultural beliefs can impact the role of nurses. The researcher employed interview method in order to determine the way cultural beliefs can impact the role of nurses from delivering effective services. It was found that many Chinese avoid direct eye contact when communicating with others. Chinese have health beliefs and practices that vary from one community to another; hence likely to impact the roles of primary healthcare providers. This includes different religious beliefs and family planning methods. The Chinese have eating habit and mostly they prefer tradition cuisines. The researcher realized that Chinese distance or create space when communicating with others. They also avoid too many questions by keeping silent and have a sense of humor. The recommendations included offering effective medical training programs, building a trusting relationships and learning to communicate effectively in a multicultural environment. References Griger, J. N. (2013). Transcultural nursing: Assessment & interventions. St. Louis, Mo: Elsevier/Mosby. Eriksson, I., & Nilsson, K. (2008). Preconditions needed for establishing a trusting relationship during health counseling – an interview study. Journal Of Clinical Nursing, 17(17), 2352-2359. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2702.2007.02265.x Jeffreys, M. R. (2010). Teaching cultural competence in nursing and health care: Inquiry, action, and innovation. New York: Springer Pub. Co. Lo, M.-C. (January 01, 2010). Cultural brokerage: Creating linkages between voices of life world and medicine in cross-cultural clinical settings. Health, 14, 5, 484-504. Mixer, S. J. (January 01, 2008). Transcultural Concepts in Nursing Care, 5th edition, by Andrews M and Boyle J. Contemporary Nurse, 28, 212-212. Sagar, P. L. (2011). Transcultural nursing theory and models: Application in nursing education, practice, and administration. New York: Springer Pub. Co. Sobo, E. J., & Loustaunau, M. O. (2010). The cultural context of health, illness, and medicine. Santa Barbara, Calif: Praeger. Sloan, C., Gough, B., & Conner, M. (2010). Healthy masculinities? How ostensibly healthy men talk about lifestyle, health and gender. Psychology & Health, 25(7), 783-803. doi:10.1080/08870440902883204 Vaughn, L.M, Jacquez F., & Baker, C.R (2009). “Cultural Health Attributions, Beliefs, and Practices: Effects on Healthcare and Medical Education”. The Open Medical Education Journal, 2, 64-74. Wallin, A., & Ahlstrom, G. (2010). From diagnosis to health: a cross-cultural interview study with immigrants from Somalia. Scandinavian Journal Of Caring Sciences, 24(2), 357-365. doi:10.1111/j.1471-6712.2009.00729.x Read More