The patient’s mother expressed her cultural and spiritual practices in her daughter’s room singing as she entered the room, sprinkled tobacco around the patient’s bed, and decorating a hospital room with eagle feathers and crystals. The mother also performed a cultural ritual by moving her hands back and forth above her daughter. Another issue is the patient’s nurse behaving terse, dismissive, and disrespectful of the mother’s actions.
A culturally competent action in this case would have notify the patient’s mother of hospital’s visiting hours ending, letting her know the earliest she can arrive the next day when visiting hours open, and if any of the items the mother laid in her daughter’s room are valuable. The patient’s nurse should also communicate to the mother a chance to collect the items she’s distributed in the hospital room because the tobacco, feathers, and crystals create obstacles for the health care providers to treat her daughter.
The patient’s mother practiced a combination of holistic, aromatherapy, and energy therapies. The eagle feather and crystal employed holistic and natural therapy by unblocking, focusing, and directing energy. Forming a circle of tobacco around the patient supposedly creates an energy allowing the healer to connect with the patient. Singing and hand movements to and fro the girl’s body is another form of energy therapy.
As a future nurse, communicating to the patient’s mother for any spiritual preferences the nurse could accommodate for the patient. I would provide what I can to accommodate both the mother and her daughter, within the healthcare facility’s abilities. I’d offer the mother if there were any religious group or leader that would be helpful to the patient. I would lean on building a safe, respectful relationship aiming to accomplish high expectations and respect for equality and diversity as my guiding principles in this situation.
Brandenberger, Julia, et al. “A Systematic Literature Review of Reported Challenges in Health Care Delivery to Migrants and Refugees in High-Income Countries – the 3C Model.” BMC Public Health, vol. 19, no. 1, 14 June 2019, bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-019-7049-x, 10.1186/s12889-019-7049-x. Accessed 11 Nov. 2020.
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