An environment that is spiritual, physical and socially safe empowers both the healthcare practitioners and patients. However, patients determine the safety of an environment since their cultures, beliefs and values are directly linked to the care they receive. According to Dempsey (n.d), to ensure patients receive a safe care, healthcare practitioners must determine and understand their own values, beliefs and behaviors that may negatively impact the healthcare delivery. This paper therefore addresses how my values, beliefs and behaviors may contribute to or detract from cultural safety (Dayer-Berenson, 2014).
Values
Values can influence many of the judgements I make as well as have an impact on the support I give to the patients. Therefore, one of my personal values that may contribute to being a culturally safe professional in a multicultural health care environment is positivity. Positivity is a value that has helped me become more open-minded thus experiencing new changes. In a multicultural health care environment, positivity is very important because it will help me become more productive as I will not think some tasks are difficult while others are not. Instead, with a positive attitude, I will look for multiple ways to help complete the tasks. Flemmer, Dekker and Doutrich (2014) argues that patients are affected by everything a nurse practitioner does and keeping a positive attitude will help them feel they are getting compassionate care. I believe that my inner mental strength makes me stronger and more capable of doing the tasks. I have also learnt that positivity contributes to my happiness as I am always content and I don mot let other people’s thoughts affect me in any way. Another value I have uphold is acceptance. I have learnt to understand the life lessons that we come across at different stages of our lives. In a multicultural health care environment, acceptance is very vital because I have learnt to accept each and every person the way they are thus promoting positive team work. Even when my expectations turn out to be disappointment, I drift towards acceptance as it also helps increase my patience. Additionally, respect is a value that positively contribute to a multicultural workplace. A multicultural workplace cannot properly function without respect (Doutrich, Arcus, Dekker, Spuck, & Pollock-Robinson, 2012). Respect builds trust, safety and wellbeing. I believe that the decisions I will make every day will be a reflection of my values and will be directed towards a purpose.
Beliefs
Everyone has beliefs, and limiting beliefs affects behavior which prevents us from taking certain actions. I believe that strategy is not a product since the world is full of strategies that were never implemented. In a multicultural setting, coming up with ideas and executing them is of great importance as it will enhance success of providing services. According to Holland (2017), the universe rewards actions and not thoughts. I also believe that people should always be kind to another as it helps create a good relationship. A sense of community is created when people practice kindness. My belief that my role is to serve can also contribute to being a culturally safe professional in a multicultural health care environment since it will help me go out of my way to help other people. Putting the needs of other people before my own will help me to positively impact the lives of other people.
Behaviors
I am a very friendly person and I believe this can contribute to being a culturally safe professional in a multicultural health care environment. This is because friendliness increases the sharing of knowledge and allows successful collaboration with other people. Friendliness also enhances team spirit and morale (Duke, Connor, & McEldowney, 2009). I also gladly take responsibility for my actions in a bid to uphold my integrity. Taking responsibility also improves my self-esteem and self-worth. In a multi-cultured setting, taking responsibility for my actions will help the employers have a better understanding of the issue at hand and find the best solutions for it. Professional responsibility ensures that the interests of the patient are placed above any other concern. By being responsible, nurse practitioners should espouse compassion and respect for the patients’ self-determination regardless of their sex, age, gender, ethnicity, medical conditions or even nationality (Mortensen, 2010). I am also a good communicator which is very essential in any multicultural setting. Good communication will contribute to being a culturally safe professional in a multicultural health care environment because it will help patients and other employees feel at ease during communication. People seeking healthcare are always anxious about their health, the test sand treatments they may have to undergo as well as what the future holds for them, which might prompt them to be rude or aggressive. Good communication with them will make them feel less anxious, valued, in control as well as build their confidence. Good communication with other employees also leads to team spirit and successful collaborations among different departments (McCleland, 2011).
Values
While I value other people’s ideas and opinions, I like exercising authority by making decisions based on my own experiences, ideas and thoughts. While this may be beneficial, exercising authority can detract from a cultural safety. This is because it has the capability of discouraging the input of the group as well as impair their morale and lead to resentment (Woods, 2010). Since authoritarian leaders may make decisions without consulting other team members, the members may feel discouraged that they cannot share their own ideas. Exercising authority will detract from being a culturally safe professional in a multicultural health care environment because may lead to others feeling exempted and making decisions that does not concur with other group members’ culture, thoughts and ideas. It may also lead to lack of creative solution which may injure the team’s performance.
Beliefs
Our beliefs may sometimes affect the quality of services we provide. My belief that not everyone is trustworthy will detract from being a culturally safe professional in a multicultural health care environment. Taking people easily into your confidence may be harmful and therefore people should learn by listening (McEldowney, & Connor, 2011). When you are telling people about what you are thinking or doing, you may empower them with information which they may later use against you. This may lead to alienation due to feelings of untrustworthiness, unnecessary wrong judgments and hard time creating lasting relationships with patients and colleagues.
Behaviors
While risk taking can help build confidence and strengthen decision making skills, it can detract from being a culturally safe professional in a multicultural health care environment. This is because it can compromise the care of patients, increase the liability risks as well as lead to financial losses. Taking risks may also be demeaning another person’s beliefs, values and behaviors which may have negative impacts on their self-esteem.
Conclusion
Cultural safety is an important aspect in healthcare as a culturally unsafe environment may lead to physical, emotional and spiritual torture. Since the population of the patients comprises of different cultures, healthcare practitioners must be able to accommodate all of them so as to ensure safe care delivery. This can only be achieved if the healthcare practitioners are aware of their own values, beliefs and cultures and how they may contribute to or detract from cultural safety. This is very essential as it will help the healthcare practitioners assess their strengths and weaknesses and taken the necessary precautions.
References
Doutrich, D., Arcus, K., Dekker, L., Spuck, J., & Pollock-Robinson, C. (2012). Cultural safety in New Zealand and the United States: Looking at a way forward together. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 23(2), 143-150.
Flemmer, N., Dekker, L., & Doutrich, D. (2014). Empathetic partnership: An interdisciplinary framework for primary care practice. The Journal for Nurse Practitioners, 10(8), 545-551.
Dayer-Berenson, L. (2014). Cultural competencies for nurses: Impact on health and illness. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
Dempsey, J. Nurses values, attitudes and behaviour related to falls prevention. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 18(6), 838-848.
Holland, K. (2017). Cultural care: Knowledge and skills for implementation in practice. In Cultural Awareness in Nursing and Health Care, Third Edition (pp. 23-48). Routledge.
Duke, J. A. N., Connor, M., & McEldowney, R. (2009). Becoming a culturally competent health practitioner in the delivery of culturally safe care: A process oriented approach. Journal of Cultural Diversity, 16(2), 40.
Mortensen, A. (2010). Cultural safety: does the theory work in practice for culturally and linguistically diverse groups?. Nursing Praxis in New Zealand, 26(3), 6-17.
McCleland, A. (2011). Culturally safe nursing research: Exploring the use of an indigenous research methodology from an indigenous researcher’s perspective. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 22(4), 362-367.
McEldowney, R., & Connor, M. J. (2011). Cultural safety as an ethic of care: A praxiological process. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 22(4), 342-349.
Woods, M. (2010). Cultural safety and the socioethical nurse. Nursing ethics, 17(6), 715-725
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