Every nurse should make cultural competence a priority as it acts as a bedrock for patient and nurse relationships. It helps in the development and growth of nurses and adds more social values to them. We understand that nursing is a very diverse profession, taking care of patients, their medications, and treatment plans. But nurses who practice culturally competence will have a more genuine connection with patients.

What is Cultural Competence in Nursing?

Cultural competence in nursing means a nurse takes care of a patient with cultural awareness including respecting and understanding their race, beliefs, and values. It helps nurses understand the patients’ needs without crossing any cultural boundaries. Patients are already overwhelmed in hospitals, however, if they get a nurse who understands their language and background it makes them relax and feel better in the environment of a hospital. To be culturally competent you must have:

1.   Cultural Awareness

To develop cultural competence in nursing you need to examine yourself and remove every sort of misjudgment that you have for any culture. A nurse should show a positive attitude toward every culture so they can give the best services to the patients of any culture.

2.   Cultural Knowledge and Skills

A nurse with knowledge on a range of cultures will be more prepared when it comes to treating a patient from a different culture or belief system. With this knowledge at hand, the patient engagement rate will rise along with the quality of care. Nurses can easily offend someone or cross boundaries if they don’t have the proper cultural knowledge of their patient.

3.   Cultural Interactions

As a culturally competent nurse, treating patients of different cultures with be a part of your daily routine. Through these interactions, you will receive additional insights into specific cultures, and how you should address issues that arise with any given patient. This knowledge, which I highlight as the #2 skill, will help you further treat patients of different backgrounds, cultures, and beliefs.

Benefits of Cultural Competence in Nursing

Cultural competence in nursing is important because it allows the nurse to provide the best care to each patient, resulting in excellent patient satisfaction and care. Without cultural competence, the healthcare sector will suffer a significant setback, limiting the services it can provide and who it can provide to.

Professional health providers who have a good background and understanding of cultural competency are less likely to hold stereotypes and think in myopic ways. It enables them to provide the finest service to everyone, regardless of socioeconomic status or religious beliefs.

Nurses develop better communication skills which allow them to have better interaction with patients of different cultures. Through these interactions, nurses acquire knowledge of various cultures which can be taught to others in the healthcare industry.

What is Holistic Care?

Cultural competence in nursing means taking a holistic approach to care that spans all across the world. Holistic care means taking care and provide support for the whole person. The focus isn’t merely on physical body health but also the mental, spiritual, and emotional health. A holistic approach emphasizes all these things because it is believed that if any one of these aspects of a person is ill, then the person can’t heal properly.

What are the Treatment Methods Used in Holistic Care?

Instead of using conventional treatments, the methods used in holistic care are different, more affordable and less risky. For example, to support positive mental health improvements of a patient methods, a holistic care provider may use hypnosis, massage therapy or meditation instead of medications. A holistic care nurse would interact with patients through different mind-body interventions like yoga and pilates to promote physical and mental health.

Holistic care nurses may use therapeutic modalities such as herbal remedies to help them maintain a healthy lifestyle and eliminate the reliance on medicines. There are various other methods, exercises and energy therapies used but the ones mention above are the most common.

Benefits of Holistic Care

The benefits of holistic care can be seen right away in most patient. First, it helps individual reduce their use of artificial treatment methods such as laboratory-made medicines and chemicals. It helps in the overall wellness of a person including mental and physical health.

It makes the patient more engaged with the decision-making that comes through the treatment process. And many times, treatments are more affordable than conventional methods.

Conclusion

To help treat patients more effectively and perfectly, nurses will need to be cultural competence and learn more about holistic care. Through these two methods, nurse will be able to provide top quality care to patient regardless of their cultures, beliefs or treatment decisions. They will be able to help patient through their mental, emotional and physical problems and adapt to any new issues that arise.