Cultural competence is a concept that ensures proper communication between the healthcare provider and a patient and is an excellent way to address cultural disparities. A highly diversified modern society often faces barriers when delivering health services due to the lack of appropriate understanding of the patient’s social individuality. Therefore, spreading awareness of personal values, and learning about others is a vital part of efficient nursing delivery, which will be further discussed.
The statement that cultural competence is directly linked to personal cultural values is highly relevant to the healthcare sector. Contemporary medicine pays much attention to diversifying and educating staff to enhance the quality of their assistance to more people (1). Being a representative of a unique culture creates multiple advantages and many barriers. Culturally competent care delivery highly depends on the level of recruitment of a diverse ethnic staff (2). As a representative of the Arabic community, various values are specified and displayed in society mainly due to the difference in religion.
I believe that Arabic culture is widely represented across the world, yet many patients face inappropriate treatment caused by a lack of educational competency. On the other hand, Muslim healthcare providers are proved to demonstrate high communication skills with diversified patients; however, they do not possess enough understanding of cultural health history knowledge (3). In my opinion, nurse-patient communication plays an essential role in the delivery of treatment for several reasons. Proficient nurses, who communicate properly, contribute to improving their connection with patients with the nurse and their perspicacity of the therapy as a whole (6). Muslim culture is complex, containing many specific features and restrictions, and therefore, I strongly believe that such representatives must be present at every medical facility for several purposes.
Firstly, as a representative of Muslim culture, I could contribute to educating healthcare providers on culturally relevant practices, as the Islamic faith significantly affects the behavioral patterns of individuals (4). Healthcare providers must be informed of privacy issues, dietary habits, and tolerable medication of Arabs, and as a direct representative of this culture, I am the best candidate to teach my colleagues about this. In this case, my cultural values can enhance healthcare delivery and increase the professional level of the nursing staff (7). Secondly, direct communication of ethnic representatives with accordant patients may make them more comfortable in addressing their issues to a person of similar beliefs. The fear of being mistreated often creates barriers that affect the quality of healthcare performance (6). Thus, being a caretaker from a diversified minority myself, I have an opportunity to positively improve medical services. Personal cultural values may also contribute to the resolutions of major racist issues in society, which I can confirm exists from personal experience. Arab nurses are usually thought to provide more accurate treatment to people of similar cultural beliefs, decreasing the possibilities of discrimination or racism. However, the reason for inappropriate nursing models originates from the western perspective, which is not always congruent with typical values of the Muslim religion. Developing nursing strategies based on Islamic beliefs empowers me to decrease cultural incompetence in medicine and improve the moral status of nursing as an Arab.
Therefore, cultural competence among Muslim nurses is directly dependent on their level of education and awareness. As a healthcare provider of such ethnicity, I can positively influence the other medical staff by informing them about specific features that require more detailed care compared to patients with other beliefs. Improvement of cultural competence among Islamic nurses will provide not only holistic, individualized care but will also educate other staff in terms of understanding the culture, subsequently increasing the overall cultural competence across the healthcare sector.
Reference List
- Biles J. Cultural competence in healthcare: our learning from 2017-2020 will shape our future. Australian Nursing & Midwifery Journal. 2020;26(11): 20-25.
- Keshet Y, Popper-Giveon A. Work experiences of ethnic minority nurses: a qualitative study. Israel Journal of Health Policy Research. 2016; 5(1): 1-10.
- Cruz JP, Alquwez N, Cruz CP, Felicilda-Reynaldo RFD, Vitorino LM, Islam SMS. Cultural competence among nursing students in Saudi Arabia: a cross-sectional study. International Nursing Review. 2017; 64(2): 215–23.
- Attum B, Shamoon Z. Cultural Competence in the Care of Muslim Patients and Their Families [Internet]. Nih.gov. StatPearls Publishing; 2019. Web.
- Malling C. Cultural Competence or Ignorance? Meeting the Needs of Female Muslim Patients [Internet]. ISLAM+MODERNITY. 2018. Web.
- Alshammari M, Duff J, Guilhermino M. Barriers to nurse–patient communication in Saudi Arabia: an integrative review. BMC Nursing. 2019;18(1): 1-10.
- Handtke O, Schilgen B, Mösko M. Culturally competent healthcare – a scoping review of strategies implemented in healthcare organizations and a model of culturally competent healthcare provision. Todd CS, editor. PLOS ONE. 2019; 14(7):e0219971.