Discussion Post: Special Topics in Nursing Practice
With each passing year, the United States is becoming more racially, ethnically, and culturally diverse. This growth of diversity is not occurring in our population of healthcare professionals and this lack of parallel growth results in the provision of discordant patient care. Nurses must be educated to be able to negotiate across cultural divides that may occur during our interactions with patients whose cultural background is different from our own. Nurses must become culturally competent to provide safe, high-quality care for diverse patient populations for improved patient outcomes.
Part I: Discuss the following questions:
i. How does culture shape nurses' concepts of health and their nursing practice?
ii. What does it mean to be culturally competent and culturally sensitive? Why are these important in nursing?
Part II: Discuss the meaning of healthcare disparities.
Choose one of the following cultural groups. Discuss the healthcare disparities they encounter and culture-specific nursing considerations.
i. Asian/Pacific Islander Americans
ii. Black Americans
iii. Latino/Hispanic Americans
iv. Native Americans/Alaska Natives/American Indians
v. White Americans
Part III: Discuss what learned in the OMH Cultural Competency Assignment.
The response should include a reference list. Using double-space, Times New Roman 12 pnt font, one-inch margins, and APA style of writing and citations.