Answer

Cultural competence in the healthcare sector is a vital element that allows medical professionals to provide quality and safe care regardless of the patient’s diversity affiliation. According to Fazio, Pace, Flinner, and Kallmyer (2018), the person-centered care model in healthcare incorporates the importance of medical practitioners to acknowledge and respect the patient’s beliefs and cultures.

Reflecting on the cultural competence self-assessment checklist which examines the awareness, knowledge, and skills, it is apparent that I am culturally competence but need to work on a few areas. Considering the awareness section, my high scores are founded on value for diversity, having a clear sense of my ethnic identity, and being prepared to share my culture. In all my relationships, I respect diversity and am eager to learn from others regarding their cultures. Insights gained from the awareness section is that one should be aware of areas of discomfort as established on the color, religion, and sexual orientations. In addition, people should be cautious of their assumptions on others’ cultures as this may impact the perception towards an individual (Martin, 2018).

The knowledge section of the checklist reveals the importance of learning from mistakes and assessing the limits to one’s knowledge. Based on the scores, it is apparent that my strengths lie in active listening and asking questions. Throughout my life, I have defended minority populations that are affected by social prejudice such as sexism, homophobia, and racism. To further enhance my skills, it is essential to engage in life long learning and examine my family history and personal limitations which should inform my short-term and long-term goals.

Having profound interpersonal skills is critical in cultural competence. This is as reflected under the skills section of the checklist. My strengths in this regard lie in challenging any social prejudice such as racism, adapting to various situations, effective communication across cultures, and acting respectfully in various cross-culturally situations. The importance of these skills, knowledge, and awareness is reflected in relating with different patients and assisting them address their challenges regardless of their diversity and differences. Further insights from the checklist reveal that nursing practitioners should acknowledge aboriginal populations and apply diverse cultural engagement skills to establish their challenges and develop mitigation strategies.

References

Fazio, S., Pace, D., Flinner, J., & Kallmyer, B. (2018). The fundamentals of person-centered care for individuals with dementia. The Gerontologist, 58(suppl_1), S10-S19.

Martin, K. (2018). Engagement in a Cultural Competence Course and its Impact on Transcultural Competence, Transcultural Confidence, and Transcultural Knowledge.

Week 8 DQ 2

There is a significant relationship between people’s ideas regarding their health, the languages they apply, the communication contexts, and literacy skills with their cultures. According to the CDC (2016), organizations can enhance the effectiveness of communication when they acknowledge and address cultural disparities that may result in poor communication. The implications of one’s culture on health literacy are described by the differences in beliefs, cultures, and understanding between the patient and the provider. Being part of a cultural group allows people to learn different rules such as how and whom to communicate to (Webb & Williams, 2018). The racial, geographical, and linguistic differences impact the ways of thinking, communication approaches, behaviors, customs and values of the individuals which are all foundations of health literacy.

The role of DNP professionals in establishing opportunities for enhancing the levels of knowledge is based on their three core roles of leadership, bringing change, and conducting research (Sherrod & Goda, 2016). It is the role of a DNP professional to conduct comprehensive studies on the effect of culture and beliefs in the community and develop evidence-based practices such as community awareness to address the challenges. Through comprehensive research, DNPs also establish health literacy levels and deficiencies which inform the intervention approaches.

The relevance of DNPs in providing opportunities for enhancing levels of knowledge is primarily based on promoting the community welfare and that of the targeted population. Being advocates of change in society, DNP professionals cannot achieve their objectives without first enhancing the levels of health literacy for the community or targeted population. Also, establishing these opportunities provides insights regarding the community. These factors are then integrated into the evidence-based practices to promote the population health. The foundations of person-centered care are communication and relationship between the population and healthcare providers. These opportunities enhance the relationship between these stakeholders thus enhancing the population health.

References

CDC (2016). Tools for cross-cultural communication and language access can help organizations address health literacy and improve communication effectiveness. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/healthliteracy/culture.html

Sherrod, B., & Goda, T. (2016). DNP-prepared leaders guide healthcare system change. Nursing management, 47(9), 13-16.

Webb, G. L., & Williams, C. J. (2018). Factors affecting language and literacy development in Australian Aboriginal children: Considering dialect, culture and health. Journal of Early Childhood Research, 16(1), 104-116.

Reflective Journal

The quality and safety of healthcare services are majorly dependent on the healthcare provider competence. Medical practitioners are required to demonstrate competence in various skills such as leadership, teamwork, interpersonal, communication, and applying ethics in practice (Hughto et al., 2017).

Reflecting on the course, I have both strengths and weaknesses which are guiding factors to my professional development plan. This course has enlightened me on the importance of applying healthcare delivery models in practice such as team nursing and person-centered care which addresses the diverse patient health challenges. The philosophical underpinning of person-centered care further recognizes the importance of cultural competence where the healthcare services should be provided while acknowledging the culture and beliefs of the patients (Fazio et al., 2018). Another essential insight entails the intraprofessional collaboration where different stakeholders collaborate to foster positive health outcomes for the patients.

In the healthcare realm, ethical competence is imperative in ensuring patient satisfaction. This course has enlightened me on how confidentiality, privacy, and gaining patient consent to their health plays a major role in ensuring positive outcomes. Considering the population and community health concerns, I have learned the importance of conducting research and developing evidence-based practices to address these challenges. My strengths in this regard lie in the technical skills to use computer among other technological tools in performing the research and implementing the EBPs. One of my long-term goals is to enhance my skills in ICT especially with the numerous changes and advancements. From patient recording to monitoring, technology dynamism is essential in achieving the quality patient outcome and improving the efficiency of service delivery (Chib, van Velthoven, & Car, 2015).

Besides medical knowledge, I have sufficient knowledge on how policies, leadership, and economic models contribute to the wellbeing of patients and society at large. Examples include providing sufficient resources to medical facilities for improving the quality of service delivery and ensuring that every individual is covered under an insurance program for subsidized and quality care. Notably, these objectives cannot be achieved without profound leadership skills as guided by models such as transformational and democratic. Through such models, teamwork is enhanced as well as the adoption of quality health interventions that address health disparities.

I met the competencies aligned to this course through continuous research, reading the relevant materials, and active participation in discussions. My short-term goals are directed towards further promoting my strengths while addressing weaknesses such as communication. My strengths lie in leadership, cultural competence, and teamwork. My long-term goals include engaging in lifelong learning and exploring diverse opportunities in both local and international organizations.