Transcultural Nursing - Essay Example

"Transcultural Nursing" is a decent example of a paper on care.
The need to live and interact in society is central to human psychology. This develops various norms, customs, and patterns of interaction, formally known to be a culture. Cultures have a known impact on human concerns, thinking patterns, behaviors, and actions. However, in recent decades the globalization has instigated a need to develop cross-cultural skills and practices in various professions and nursing is one of those important professions that need to display a better cultural diversity and adaptation to ensure the provision of culturally aware healthcare services. (Leininger & Marilyn, 2002).

I have personally experienced the need for this trans-cultural awareness while providing healthcare services to a South Asian patient, who belonged to India. He was admitted to an adult psych ward where I was performing my duties as a nursing staff. When I was detailed with this patient few of my colleagues had already denied this detailing due to cultural and lingual complexities. The patient was suffering from a mild mental disorder due to some distracting domestic issues along with few economic and environmental factors. The patient’s English speaking capabilities could hardly be categorized at the lowest possible level, however with a relatively higher level of English listening skills, he provided me with an opportunity for one-way conversational therapies.

The most difficult phase of this nursing experience was a period that I had to spend with the patient in convincing him for his treatment. Initially, the patient was not convinced of any psychological complexity within his mind and if at all he ever agreed to it, he attributed it to some supernatural forces. Their concept of supernatural forces and their control over the human mind is a very common belief among the inhabitants of his culture and most of his close relatives had assured him of an illness caused by these mystical forces.

Bridging these initial lingual and cultural gaps were of core importance to ensure a long-lasting psychiatric cure of the patient. I had to have several lengthy and labored conversational sessions with the patient to enrich my cultural and environmental understanding, which was an imperative requirement to pave my way into his psychological complexities. I was finally succeeded in reaching the root causes of the complexities that were tightly tied with the cultural thread of the region. It was only then I was able to cure his mental anxieties of a patient with the help and guidance of a psychiatric physician.

The experience, despite some initial hardships, proved to be a very enlightening and encouraging practice of my nursing career. It not only gives me a sense of accomplishment but also added valuable knowledge of dealing with patients from different ethnocultural environments and limited English conversational capabilities. The most important strategy that I employed in this nursing experience was the development of a culturally aware intimacy with the patient. This helped me a long way into the treatment of the patient because of his personal willingness because the patient’s readiness and cooperation is a pivotal factor in the delivery of trans-cultural healthcare services. Apart from the difficulties and efforts required to deal with such cases, the patient’s post-recovery gratitude and appreciation impart a unique professional satisfaction that can only be admired by a core nursing professional.