Focus: based on this paper i will construct a powerpoint presentation Understanding Diversity in Nursing
I a) Today, nurses face the challenge of providing efficient patient care because of the increasing diversity in patient population. The increase in patient diversity often puts a strain on many nurses in their ability to provide culturally competent patient care. For nurses to effectively communicate with their patients, they need to recognize the specific barriers that hinder patient-centred care (Murdaugh, Parsons, & Pender, 2018). One issue that continues to affect diversity is the language barrier. Many nurses fail to provide quality patient care because of the language barrier. This issue primarily affects people from minority communities who do not speak or understand English as their first language. The origin of this issue stems from the fact that immigration continues to attract a large pool of immigrants into the country. These immigrants just like everyone else, needs quality healthcare but fails to get it because of the language barrier.
2a) Understanding diversity has changed my perspective of the world in terms of understanding people's needs and beliefs. By understanding different cultures, I can effectively communicate with different people from different backgrounds and ages without judgment or prejudice. I am now able to understand better the issues that people face. This understanding has helped me to appreciate the world and how it functions.
b) Understanding diversity in nursing is essential because it provides nurses with the opportunity to administer efficient and quality care to patients. It also bridges the gap between health providers and patients to provide improved and enhanced patient care (Bahreman & Swoboda, 2016). By understanding a patient's value system, nurses can improve communication and education with patients, thus making the patients feel more comfortable.
c) Understanding diversity can inform my study of big topics, such as the study of obesity in the next five years. For example, people from the African American community have been found to have higher rates of obesity among them. This issue has been attributed to their economic statuses, which make them unable to afford quality and healthy foods. Understanding diversity in their food culture can help health practitioners to devise healthy care that the community can relate. Nurses can come up with the best intervention strategies to curb the condition.
3a. Understanding diversity, in general, helps to improve communication among people. Understanding different cultures and values enables one to be sensitive to other people, understand their struggles, thought processes, and ideas (Crawford, Candlin, & Roger, 2017). When one understands diversity, they can be able to design effective communication strategies that minimize misinterpretation and being offensive. For example, many people believe that obesity is caused by food obsession or carelessness. Understanding the culture of the Black people can enable nurses to know that this is not the case, and therefore, they can communicate with people about treatment without being offensive.
b) To address the issue of language barriers, organizations should ensure that employees complete training on diversity and ensure that they attend workshops and conferences that bring awareness to cultural diversity (Young & Guo, 2016). Organizations should also employ the use of smart devices and the use of interpreters to reduce language barrier and ensure effective communication. Furthermore, organizations and or health facilities should ensure that they use simple English that can easily be understood by all patients.
In conclusion, understanding diversity helps to break the gap that exists in terms of language barriers. Several challenges continue to face the issue of diversity as it concerns the language barrier. First, many health facilities are short-staffed, and therefore, nurses spend very little time with patients that hinders them from recognizing and catering to individual needs. Secondly, many individuals from minority communities require translations services which consume a lot of time. Lastly, there is a lack of trust between patients and providers who do not speak the same language as them.
However, there are several benefits of understanding diversity in terms of language barriers. First, breaking language barriers fosters trust and mutual respect between patients and nurses. It also improves access to quality, patient-centred care, patient compliance, and improved patient experiences and outcomes.
References
- Bahreman, N. T., and Swoboda, S. M. (2016). Honoring diversity: developing culturally competent communication skills through simulation. Journal of Nursing Education, 55(2), 105-108.
- Crawford, T.,