Introduction
Currently, I am pursuing a nursing master’s degree intending to become a qualified nurse educator. As a certified specialist in education, I will not only be skilled in healing arts but also involved in raising the next generations of nurses. There are numerous theories to guide nursing practice. Still, in the current essay, I discuss the role of the culture care theory developed by Madeleine Leininger in the middle of the 20th century and explain how this theory guides my practice.
Framework for Specialized Practice
The founder of the culture care theory, American nurse Madeleine Leininger (1996), emphasizes that care should not be understood in purely medical terms and should include a cultural component as well. In other words, a nurse should be culturally conscious and adjust care to the culture of a patient. As Leininger (1996) puts it, nursing care can only be beneficial when “the individual, group, family, community, or culture care values, expression, or pattern are known and used appropriately and in meaningful ways by the nurse” (p. 74). Besides, culture is important because it could help to predict the behavior of a person and his or her reaction to diagnosis and treatment. The culture care theory is essential for my specialized practice because it explains what I should teach students and fellow nurses when I become a certified educator. Generally, students who are studying to become nurses are taught how to save patients lives, and the cultural aspect of this help is commonly ignored. However, according to the theory proposed by Madeleine Leininger, the effectiveness of medical help depends on the efficiency of dialogue and understanding between nurses and their patients.
Perspectives for the Guidelines for the Specialized Practice
The culture care theory does not focus on how to educate nurses per se. Nonetheless, it provides a clear overview of which competencies nurses should possess to maximize the effectiveness of the provided help. More precisely, from the perspective of the theory, worldview, religion, technologies, political, economic, social, and legal factors, environment, language, and even ethnohistory affect the choice of care practices (McFarland and Wehbe-Alamah, 2018). From this, it should be inferred that educators should devote a significant share of time to explaining to nurses the specific links between each of the factors mentioned above and the issues of health, disabilities, expectations of care, and attitude to medical procedures. Furthermore, the culture care theory encourages nurses to be creative and, therefore, constantly search for “different therapeutic ways to help people of diverse cultures” (McFarland and Wehbe-Alamah, 2019, p. 545). The primary message that a nurse educator should transmit to the audience is that even though some standard procedures were approved for the healing of patients, a nurse still should evaluate each case independently and discuss with a patient whether this or that medical intervention is acceptable.
Framework for Real World
Adherence to the principles of the culture care theory is crucial in the modern world. The most vivid illustration of how cultural competencies might affect the treatment plan could be derived from the diverse religious views of patients. For example, for the majority of Americans who are atheists or profess Christianity, the gender of their nurse, physician, or surgeon does not matter. However, the Quran prohibits Muslim women from communicating with men who are not members of their families. The strictness of these prohibitions depends on the direction of Islam. Nonetheless, it is unacceptable for Muslim women to be observed by a male nurse or a doctor. In this case, a nurse should be aware of such important details of Muslim culture as alcohol intake restriction, diet, touch restriction, and the ideas of privacy (Attum et al., 2018). According to the study conducted by del Pino (2017), most nurses are heavily guided by prejudices when dealing with Muslim patients. Hence, the critical task of a nurse educator is to free their minds from bias and train them to treat representatives of other confessions as equals, and respect and understand them.
Research in Specialized Field
The culture care theory does pay much attention to the issue of research. Nevertheless, it is interesting to notice that numerous modern scholars dedicate their studies to investigating links between cultural aspects and treatment outcomes and peculiarities that medical personnel should consider. For instance, Schick et al. (2018) discovered that the treatment of refugees should also be focused on psychological help because the difficulties they had experienced led to depression and anxiety. This, in turn, hinders the efficiency of the cure (Schick et al., 2018). Another curious conclusion was recently made by Stahler and Mennis (2018), who noticed that Hispanic and black opioid users tend to give up treatment compared to white opioid users. It is essential to mention that the primary goal of these studies is not to show that some cultures, races, religions, or minorities are worse or better than others. Instead, the mission of such studies is to inform nurses of the existing differences because these differences might affect the efficiency of the proposed treatment.
Framework for Directing Nursing Interventions
From the written above, it becomes apparent that the critical idea of the culture care theory of nursing is that nursing interventions should correspond to the worldview, religion, culture, and social and economic background of a patient. Undoubtedly, nurses should do their best to facilitate the recovery of patients. Nonetheless, it is essential for them not to forget to consider and analyze each case individually and establish clear communication with the patient. Nurses are taught that some practices are more efficient than others; however, it will be wrong to ignore culture and force a patient to abandon his or her views if they contradict the ones of a nurse. Before suggesting an intervention, a nurse should get to know not only of symptoms and results of the analysis but also the cultural background of a person. For example, regulations might require a nurse to perform a blood transfusion. However, a nurse should know whether a patient approves of this intervention because some religions forbid blood transfusion even if it costs a life for a patient.
Conclusion
To conclude, nurse education is a highly significant task because educator has a considerable influence on the views and skills of their wards. Even though there are numerous nursing theories, I have chosen the theory of culture care developed by Madeleine Leininger because it emphasizes that care is not only about giving medications, taking tests, and doing procedures. Instead, the essence of care lies in establishing an efficient dialogue and trust between nurses and patients. When I become a nurse educator, among other things, I will teach nurses about the invaluable role of culture in nursing.
References
Attum, B., Hafiz, S., Malik, A., & Shamoon, Z. (2018). Cultural competence in the care of Muslim patients and their families. StatPearls Publishing.
del Pino, F. J. P. (2017). Nurses and Muslim patients: Two perspectives on Islamic culture in the hospital. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 237, 1131-1137. Web.
Leininger, M. (1996). Culture care theory, research, and practice.Nursing Science Quarterly, 9(2), 71-78. Web.
McFarland, M. R., & Wehbe-Alamah, H. B. (2018). Leininger’s transcultural nursing: Concepts, theories, research, and practice (4th ed.). McGraw-Hill.
McFarland, M. R., & Wehbe-Alamah, H. B. (2019). Leininger’s theory of culture care diversity and universality: An overview with a historical retrospective and a view toward the future.Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 30(6), 540-557. Web.
Schick, M., Morina, N., Mistridis, P., Schnyder, U., Bryant, R. A., & Nickerson, A. (2018). Changes in post-migration living difficulties predict treatment outcome in traumatized refugees.Frontiers in Psychiatry, 9, 1-8. Web.
Stahler, G. J., & Mennis, J. (2018). Treatment outcome disparities for opioid users: Are there racial and ethnic differences in treatment completion across large US metropolitan areas? Drug and alcohol dependence, 190, 170-178. Web.