Question

Identify areas of potential conflict of values and customs for a nurse interacting with a family from a different cultural or ethnic group.

Answer 1

Nursing is in an era were transcultural nursing is given importance. Since nursing is a global profession and nurses come across people of different cultures, giving importance to the patient’s culture is essential. Nurses may come across different cultures and ethnicity and may experience cultural conflict in different areas.

Cultural conflict may arise in

• Communicating with the patient. Eg wishing the patient, non verbal communication through body language, touch etc
• Cultural beliefs about disease and sickness and medical treatment Eg. Disease may be considered as curse from god; Medical treatment may not be allowed in some religious cultures; Some specific treatments like blood transfusion, abortion may not accepted in some cultures
• Family values and culture Eg. Some families may be very orthodox and some may be flexible to different cultures;
• Customs Eg. Customs such as marriage, practices in child rearing etc vary across different cultures and ethnicity