Heritage Culture Paper

Abstract

Paper will provide an overview of what was learned while interviewing each other during lab. The paper will discuss the demographics, similarities, and differences of heritage and culture. With that, it will also include values and beliefs. H.A. and E.V. prepared genograms to create an easy way to observe not only heritage but also medical history and medical illness within three generations.

Next, the paper will define what evidence-based practice is and how it can be applied when taking care of patients.

This is backed with supportive references from scholarly nursing journals and a class textbook. With that, the paper will discuss specifically how evidence-based practice has been applied to learning how to be culturally competent. Lastly, the paper will explain how students could have applied evidence-based practice to previous 345 clinical rotations, and how to start implementing them for future career opportunities as a registered nurse.

Heritage is something that is truly unique no matter where you go. Heritage and culture make you understand how the world is so unique and truly helps you develop a new appreciation for another’s culture. This assignment has been extremely interesting because you find out that you have a lot of similarities (which makes you connect) and many differences which makes you, you.

Demographics

I, H.A., a 20-year-old Caucasian female, am an only child from Heathsville, Virginia. My mother and maternal grandparents were all born in Tappahannock. My father and paternal grandparents were born in Richmond, Virginia. I, however, was born in the town of Kilmarnock, Virginia and grew up in a very small rural town known as Warsaw, Virginia. My family and myself listed above, all were born and raised here in the United States of America.

My partner E.V. was born in Martinsville, Virginia and has one brother. Her mother was born in Altavista, Virginia. E.V.’s father and paternal grandparents were all born in Patrick County, Virginia. While her maternal grandparents were born further south in Rowland, North Carolina. E.V. grew up in a rural community known as Patrick Henry, Virginia. E.V and her family above were all born a citizen of the United States of America.

Similarities

Through the assessment, E.V. and I found some similarities such as growing up in a small rural town, maintaining contact with extended family members that lived close and attending a public high school. Also, we learned that we are both classified as in the Christianity region and practice this religion by praying, reading the Bible, and celebrating religious holidays. What also is extremely unique about this is that we both were extremely connected with our friends and neighbors in the same way; such as, being of the same religious and ethnic backgrounds.

Differences

With similarities also comes differences and that is perfectly okay. Differences included how often we visited our family that lived outside of our home. For example, my partner shared that she visited her family weekly while I only visited my extended family monthly. Even though my family lived close, we often did not visit each other as much as we should. With that, my partner explained that she grew up with her mother, father, and brother.

I, on the other hand, grew up primarily in the care of my mother because my parents were divorced. We also noticed even though we are of the same religion we are not the same denomination. E. V’s denomination is Methodist that attended church monthly; whereas, I belong to a non-denominational church that attends weekly. With different denominations, we differed because my denomination prepares foods and participates in ethnic activities such as praise singing and dancing, Fall festival of praise, and holiday celebrations and hers did not.

Genograms

With the use of genograms, it provided a quick and easy glimpse of a three-generation family tree. Not only was it amazing to learn so much about E.V.’s culture, but it was also interesting to see medical similarities and differences from both of our genograms. First, it was easy to identify similarities between our genogram like we both have no medical problems, our mothers have anxiety, fathers both have high cholesterol, and our paternal grandmothers both have had cancer. For the differences, our genograms included E.V.’s mother having high cholesterol and depression my mother did not, her maternal grandfather passed and mine is still living, and her paternal grandfather is still living with hypertension and has had a massive heart attack while my paternal grandfather has passed.

Nursing Journal

With all the different types of heritage, it is important to become culturally competent so that you as a nurse can fully understand your patient and provide them with the best possible care. With that idea, this is where evidence-based practice truly comes into play. “Evidence-based practice (EBP) provides nurses with a method to use critically appraised and scientifically proven evidence for delivering quality health care to a specific population” (Foo, 2011). As we students’ progress, we shall implement evidence-based practice in our everyday lives while caring for our patient and families.

When practicing this, it makes you a critical thinker; it helps you understand what your patient needs and aiding in support quickly and effectively if problems are to arrive. According to the Fundamentals of Nursing text, it states, “Critical thinking requires cognitive skills and the habit of asking questions, staying well informed, being honest in facing personal biases and always being willing to reconsider and think clearly about issues.” (Facione, 1990). With this, we all can simply apply to ask questions, staying up to date on research/studies, and avoiding personal bias while implementing care for our patients.

In relation to this assignment, I found another article that described cultural competencies. The journal goes on to say that being “culturally competent” is an extremely important tool for all nurses to have. Most while in school, are taught about cultural and heritage differences, but it is when you as a nurse hit head on to a cultural difference with your own patient is when you really understand what it really meant to be culturally competent.

Despite the fear of not being culturally competent, University of Missouri-Kansas City professor took on that fear by having a whole course about cultural competency. Not only was the teaching about it, but they were also letting their students develop their own way of being culturally competent. Source wrote, “Because many students lacked an experiential bridge on which to build new learning and skill related to cultural competency, I would need to work at designing class activities that would help them gain their own cultural experiences and explore their own responses” (Hunter, 2008, p.354). This class would be beneficial to all nurses and is a step in the right direction for understanding cultural competency.

Clinical Experience

During our clinical 345 experience on the skilled side, we have met so many different types of people. With new beginnings comes uncertainty especially when you are communicating with new and most of the time different people. Typically, we see older adults in my clinical setting and we chat about medical history, what brought them there, and when they plan on leaving. With this assignment, I have a whole new appreciation and understanding that it is so much more than just why they may be there. Learning about cultural competency will better guide my assessment of the patient, and how they want to be cared for. If I incorporate cultural competency in my clinical I will new things that I can put away in my nursing tool bag to better myself, my ability to connect, and most importantly provide respectable care to my patients.

Summary

I have thoroughly enjoyed this assignment and it has better prepared me for my future as a registered nurse. We do not realize how much we have in common with people that we did not even know existed. Our differences are what make us unique, and helps others learn about someone that is not exactly like yourself. It is amazing how everyone is so different because we learn so much by just taking an extra minute or two to listen to what someone may have to say. When learning about other cultures it is beneficial to stay up to date and in tune with what you may be learning so that you can become culturally competent. By becoming culturally competent, you are making your patient a high priority by making sure they receive the best care possible while also being respected.

References

1. Facione P: Critical thinking: a statement of expert consensus for purposes of educational
2. assessment and instruction. The Delphi report: research findings and recommendations prepared for the American Philosophical Association. ERIC Doc No. ED 315-423, Washington, DC, 1990, ERIC.
3. Foo, S. (2011). Adopting evidence-based practice in clinical decision making: nurses’
4. perceptions, knowledge, and barriers. NCBI. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3133901/
5. Hunter, J. L. (2008). Applying Constructivism to Nursing Education in Cultural Competence.
6. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, Vol 19 (4). pp 354-362. Retrieved from http://journals.sagepub.com.lib-proxy.radford.edu/doi/pdf/10.1177/1043659608322421

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