Part 1
Hailing from the Cuban community, and having lived in the U.S for a significantly long time, while I cab refer to myself as a Latino, I think today I reflect more as a multi-ethnic human who has been modeled from a combination of cultures, belief systems and values. I cannot actually day that I distinctly belong to any particular race or ethnicity especially from a cultural perspective. Having schooled in a setting where racial, ethnic and cultural diversity was highly visible I find myself as a person who has significantly parted ways with their original culture and adopted a culture that suits the new surroundings. However, I find myself as conservative at times as modeled within the Cuban and Latino lifestyle and cultures especially to people of different races and ethnicity. This usually happens on matters that are too personal such as illness, religion and relationships. It is a value that I still feel is important to hold because it allows for self-reflection and offers me the chance to review my life to achieve inner peace than to act within the demands of the society. It affords me the chance to self-reflection. As an RN, I have worked within the healthcare system since 2007 and this has afforded me an opportunity to work with people of different cultures, races, and ethnicities. In my view, the African Americans are the most difficult group to work with if at all I can compare them to the Native white Americans. The African Americans are so sensitive on their personal life and a single error in communication or any kind of implying statement can ruin the relationship with the nurse or the healthcare provider (Bickley & Szilagyi, 2012). However, over time, I have developed more responsive approaches of working with this group such as allowing them to take significant control of the care process through involvement in decision making and frequent references to what they have said before during conversations (Wright & Leahey, 2013).
Part 2
Cross-cultural communication is a strategy that helps nurses overcome the challenge of working and dealing with patients from different cultural groups. The ability of the nurse to work with the patient and ensure that the patient-nurse relationship leads to positive outcomes is embedded on communication (Bickley & Szilagyi, 2012). However, in the absence of trust and nurse competence, the communication between the patient and the nurse declines while the cases of stereotyping from either side; the nurse or the patient tend to increase (Bigby, 2007). All these hurt the care process and may limit how well the nurse and the patient or family can collaborate to deliver optimal outcomes. As a patient, having been served severally at the clinical level by nurses of various ethnicities, cultures and races, I can confess that the experience has never been short of quality and I cannot associate any of the instances with questionable care attitude. The very fact that I considered each of the care providers in each instance as a professional made it easy for me to share my problems, attitudes and perceptions entrusting the nurse with my information and expecting that they would help me. This optimal level of trust facilitated the care process and the positive outcomes I later achieved (Wright & Leahey, 2013).
In Ms. Jones case, their belief that life is valuable and that all should be done to preserve it as well as the attitude that the healthcare system cannot be trusted to afford them quality care implies in-depth negotiation with the family. As a nurse, I have to assure the family that the facility will do anything within their capability to help the patient. On matters of end-of-life, I would definitely incorporate a nurse of African American ethnicity to help manage this family through this sensitive topic (Bigby, 2007).
References
Bickley, L., & Szilagyi, P. G. (2012). Bates' guide to physical examination and history-taking. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Bigby, J. A. (2007). Navigating cross cultural communication. In T.E. King, M.B. Wheeler & A.B. Bindman (Eds.), Medical management of vulnerable and underserved patients: principles, practice, and populations (pp.91-99). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Wright, L. & Leahey, M. (2013). Nurses and families. A guide to family assessment and intervention. Philadelphia, PA: F.A. Davis and Company.
