Respond to your colleagues who were assigned a different patient than you. Critique your colleague’s targeted questions, and explain how the patient might interpret these questions. Explain whether any of the questions would apply to your patient, and why.

MAIN POST

Cultural competency is where healthcare providers establish effective communication by adapting to their patients’ needs who have different economic, educational, beliefs, morals, sexual orientation, etcetera from their own (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015). Being a culturally competent person is educating oneself about other persons’ beliefs, whereby the person develops cultural awareness of one’s culture and develops a positive attitude towards cultural differences. Cultural competence is essential within the healthcare field because it allows clinicians to provide care to diverse patient populations.

In the assigned case study, TJ, a 32-year old pregnant lesbian, is being seen for her physical exam. However, she is experiencing vaginal discharge and has not experienced any complications in her pregnancy thus far. She receives prenatal care from an obstetrician and takes prenatal vitamins and over the counter Tylenol for occasional aches and pains. She has a family history of diabetes and received sperm from a local sperm bank. She is Gravida 1; Para 0; Abortions 0. After analyzing the case study, the healthcare provider needs to be receptive to the patient’s sexual orientation and be aware of discrimination affecting minority groups such as the LGBTQ community. The LGBTQ community is faced with discrimination in society, and they do not need to experience it in the healthcare field. Hence, healthcare providers need to become culturally competent and demonstrate cultural humility in working with this minority group because LGBTQ experience significant health disparities throughout their lives (Ball et al., 2019, p. 25).

When developing a health history for this patient, I would need to be accepting and non-judgmental and have a positive body language because body language speaks volumes. The five targeted questions I would ask are:

1. How would you like to be addressed today since I would refer to you as you prefer?
2. How are you feeling today?
3. Does your vaginal discharge have an odor? What color is your vaginal discharge?
4. Are you worried about your vaginal discharge?
5. Was anyone in your family diagnosed with gestational diabetes when they were pregnant?

Kaihlanen, Hietapakka, & Heponiemi (2019) stated healthcare professionals worldwide are required to deliver care for an increasing number of culturally and linguistically diverse patients (p. 2). Communicating healthcare information to a diverse patient population can be challenging because of barriers to effective communication such as low health literacy and speaking a different language. Also, patients prefer home-remedies over prescription medicines. These are some challenges I have encountered in communicating with patients from various population background. As a nurse, I must become culturally competent when I provide care to patients of different backgrounds and be respectful of their preferences. Thus, strategies employed to be sensitive to various cultural factors while gathering important information are:

• Using plain simple language instead of medical jargon because it will make healthcare information easier to understand.
• Implementing the use of an interpreter as appropriate.
• Developing self-awareness whereby I examine my own cultural beliefs and the patient’s cultural belief.
• Asking patients how they would like to be addressed because it sets the tone of the interview.

Communicating healthcare information to patients improves their quality of care.

References

Ball, J. W., Dains, J. E., Flynn, J. A., Solomon, B. S., & Stewart, R. W. (2019). Seidel’s

       guide to physical examination: An interprofessional approach (9th ed.). St. Louis, MO:

        Elsevier Mosby.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2015). Cultural Competence. Retrieved from

https://npin.cdc.gov/pages/cultural-competence

Kaihlanen, A.-M., Hietapakka, L., & Heponiemi, T. (2019). Increasing cultural awareness:

Qualitative study of nurses’ perceptions about cultural competence training. BMC

         Nursing, 18(1), N.PAG. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-019-0363-x

INSTRUCTION:

Respond to your colleagues who were assigned a different patient than you. Critique your colleague’s targeted questions, and explain how the patient might interpret these questions. Explain whether any of the questions would apply to your patient, and why.

ANSWER

Response

The questions posed to the 32-year old pregnant lesbian are questions that every nurse would ask expectant mothers other than the first question. In the modern world, cultural competency, as explained in the posts among nurses, is essential when establishing effective communication with patients  (Ratna, 2019). The patient has a different sexual orientation in this case. However, this should not be a cause of alarm as she is just like any other woman. However, it is crucial to know how the patient would prefer to be identified to avoid any ill feelings between a nurse and patient, where the patient feels the nurse is insensitive. This breaks the patient-nurse relationship, which minimizes the possibilities of effective communication (Ratna, 2019). The other four questions address her health and help acquire information on her pregnancy’s progress, which is professional. The patient will interpret the five-targeted questions as professional, non-judgmental, and feel the nurse understands and treats her ‘normally.’ None of the questions would result in feeling unnecessary judgments or controversies. However, for some, maybe the first question would stir some mixed feelings.

In response to my patient: a 16-year-old white pregnant female living in an inner-city neighborhood, question two would apply to her. Primarily, the two patients are pregnant, making the questions on their health essential in identifying how they are coping and progress for them and their unborn babies. The second question on how the patient feels is necessary, as it helps establish and uncover cognitive and physical feelings. The emotions mentioned help relate to the patient’s physical and emotional state required to identify in her condition. This question is essential in building a rapport with the patient considering she is a minority who may be feeling guilty, anxious, fearful, embarrassed, and physically fatigued. Communicating her feelings enables the nurse to validate her feelings to be natural, reassure her to be in the right place, and show compassion to the minority  (Daley, Sadler, & Reynolds, 2013). This will result in more trust and communication, hence effective patient history building necessary for her wellbeing.

References

Daley, A. M., Sadler, L. S., & Reynolds, H. D. (2013). Tailoring Clinical Services to Address the Unique Needs of Adolescents from the Pregnancy Test to Parenthood. Curr Probl Pediatr Adolesc Health Care, Vol 43(4): 71–95. doi: 10.1016/j.cppeds.2013.01.001.

Ratna, H. (2019). The Importance of Effective Communication in Healthcare Practice. Harvard Public Health Review, 23.