Application of Concept Analysis to Clinical Practice

Concept Analysis of Cultural Competence
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Concept Analysis of Cultural Competence
Effective patient care is given the priority in any healthcare setting. Nurses have a great role to play in the health team, and their contribution determines a lot in terms of the quality and type of healthcare services delivered to the patient. 80% of the patient care that is delivered in the health care setting all relies on the knowledge and skills of the nurses (Al-Mahmoud, Mullen, & Spurgeon, 2012). Proper healthcare services are provided depending on the circumstances and the nature of the patients' health problems. The knowledge of a nurse to deal with the patients' health care problems goes beyond the professional knowledge of the nurse. It calls the need for alternative eternal knowledge that can help the patient to deal with the health issues of the patient with much ease and achieve positive patient feedback. Health intervention takes different designs depending on the healthcare needs of the patient, which varies depending on their cultural and religious beliefs. This brings in the need for culturally competent nurses in a healthcare system as culture; social values and beliefs influence patient outcomes greatly.
In his concept analysis article Cai (2016) emphasizes on the desire of understanding the culture of the patient as an important aspect of designing the treatment approach for the patient. The incorporation of the culture in the design of a patient’s health care plan becomes problematic in nature. It becomes problematic because of lack of knowledge of the patients' culture and also lack of knowledge by the patient on the role of culture in the nurses health intervention (Beer & Chipps, 2014). All these two issues result in disparities in health care delivery to the patient and disparities in a healthcare facility access. Cultural competence in health care entails a proper understanding of different cultures of different patient groups and having respect to such groups (Tucker, RoncoronI, & Sanchez, 2015). The treatment approach should take into consideration the beliefs and the social norms as all these affect the patient’s health outcome.
Cai (2016) has explored the concept cultural competence by looking at different cases in a healthcare setting. One of the outstanding definitions of cultural competence by Cai is that it’s a set of congruent attitudes, knowledge and behaviors of professionals that enables effective work in cross-cultural situations. This definition takes into consideration the individual concerns of attitudes and behaviors as well as systematic or organizational level policies and procedures. Some key concepts of cultural competence that are of key in Cai (2016) article are explained below:
Cultural Awareness: it refers to the consciousness of nurses on the different values, beliefs, norms and lifeways of their patients. Nurses should be cognizant of the cultural similarities and differences between them and the patients, and these differences should be valued in the provision of quality health services to the patient. In order to be fully aware culturally, the nurses s...