African American Care

99_99africa · Feb 13, 2006

HEALTH/ILLNESS AND COPING

A holistic approach to health reconnects the traditionally separate approach to mind and body. Factors such as the physical environment, economic conditions, social/cultural issues, emotional state, interpersonal relationship, and support systems can work together or alone to influence health. The connection among physical health, emotional health and spiritual well being must be understood and considered when providing health care. It is the nurse’s conceptual integration of physiologic health condition with the emotional and social context, along with the tasks and developments of the patients life stage, that allows for the development of a holistic plan of nursing care.

99_99africa · Feb 13, 2006

INTERPERSONAL AND CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT

The beliefs and practices that have been shared from generation to generation are known as cultural or ethic patterns. They are expressed through language, dress, dietary choices, and role behaviors, in perceptions of health and illness and in health related behaviors.

FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS AND SUPPORT SYSTEM

The traditional family is recognized as a mother, father and children, many different types of living arrangements exit within our society.

kgkarma · Feb 14, 2006

Originally Posted by MichaelLooney

Yes, its me agian.

Being under 30 (only 26, to be exact), I'm never entirely certain what to call people of other races. I think it was a whole thing in the 80's where I kept hearing arguments about what to call people, then the 90's getting into the 'Politicaly Correct' titles for things. As a child we went from being told not to call African Americans '******s' because it was racially derogitive. Then we were told that calling them 'black' was equally as offensive b/c you should look beyond the colour of a person's skin. We didn't want to call them 'African Americans' because it was offensive to either A. people of dark complexions not decended from from Africans, or B. felt it was a negative impression resulting from their ancestroy rather than their personal accomplishments, or C. African Americans can also be 'white'. I could go on and on, but after 2 decades I'm still afraid to call anyone anything besides 'Sir' or 'Madam' (which is English, and is considered offensive to add the 'e' on the end, but if you're French, is 'Madame' as its considered offensive to leave OFF the 'e' on the end).

Anyway...

I hope you were trying to be cute with your post because it appears as though you've had some real problems. How can someone that was 5 or 6 years old in 1980 have a problem knowing what to call someone of a different race? I find it especially interesting that someone had to tell you not to call someone a '******' at that age. When I was 5 or 6 years, my friends were whatever their name was. I never thought about their skin color. Yes, you should look beyond a persons skin color but does that mean that the person is not of a certain so call color? Is it taking from a white persons accomplishments to be called white. What does a persons accomplishments have to do with the color of their skin? As I mentioned before, if Africans were not brought to this country in bondage, and their culture stripped from them, this conversation would me moot.

StrbryJelo · Mar 9, 2006

I've just found this thread and didn't have time to read all of the posts, but do want to comment on a couple of things that were brought up.

I'm of very mixed heritage...Irish, French, English, Scotch-Irish, Osage and Cherokee. I've found many oriental cultures believe women shouldn't have direct eye contact with males and it's a sign of aggresion with many American Indians. I personally have to work real hard to maintain eye contact.

Voodoo is still very much accepted in the New Orleans area and has moved, at least in small pockets, around the country. It also has no racial boundaries. Wites are active in Voodoo also. It was brought to this country and the Carribean during the slave trade. In the Mexican and some South American cultures, many people consult Curanderos(Curanderas are female) in conjunction with medical doctors. Curanderos practice herbal medicine and provide cures for those affected by witches (brujos or brujas), midwifery and I've seen documentation of them performing surgery with no anesthetic and using only their hands, with no patient discomfort.

The medical term for people eating non-food items is called pica. I live in middle Georgia and this is a common practice in South Georgia. Many people of all ages eat clay. In school I was taught people ate clay and other minerals to make up for dietary deficiencies, but I've known many over the years to eat clay even with a fairly balanced diet. I've personally taken care of one older lady years ago who had eaten so much clay that she impacted, perforated her bowel and died as a result.

I agree with earlier posters that we should use the published/anecdotal imformation about cultures as a base and move slowly with each paitent until you find out what they're comfortable with and what works for both of you. Cultural differences can make taking care of patients/families difficult at times, but it's so very intersting.

Mick

not now, RN · Mar 9, 2006

I knew eventually someone was going to say something offend. It was just inevitable....Yet again another due to be closed thread because of an ignorant remark. I guess white folks don't need lotion, use wide tooth combs or have large families, huh?:angryfire African American my eye....

I wouldn't even worry about what they said more than likely they're trying to tick someone, anyone, off. That statement could be said for a lot of races.

Heck, I'm Mexican-American, I need a wide tooth comb for my thick, wavy hair, I always need lotion (still on the lookout for the perfect one..) and my family is ginormous (and loud, dramatic, chaotic, overbearing...).

Bumashes, MSN, APRN, NP · Mar 9, 2006

Ms. Joseph and Ebony already stated it very well. The direct eye contact and witch doctor thing is completely new to me too. However, I have no doubt that may have been Commuter's experience.
I was told in one of my classes recently that rural Blacks in the South often eat dirt; it's in our culture??? This was news to me also as I, having been raised in the rural South have never participated in this ritual nor have I observed or known anyone who has done it. So beware of what you read.
As a healthcare consumer, the only thing I can add is that you should be careful that in your efforts to be "culturally sensitive" you are not conscending. I see that mistake made sometimes. Good luck on your paper!

Wow! That's nuts. I told the dirt thing to a couple of my black friends

and, after they were done ragging me, they expressed their lack of experience in that particular food group. :lol2:

Gods child · Mar 9, 2006

When I first read the orginal post a while back I wanted to say, "Why don't you write about European American care"? As a person of mixed race assignments like that used to bother me, but I'm over it now.

I'm glad I got that off my chest.

Lvn2002Blessed · Mar 17, 2006

well when i was in nursing school in 2002 i took this multicultural beliefs class on different cultures it was a very interesting and great course. i recommend that every nurse would take a course or buy the book to better understand different cultures and beliefs on how to take care for their patients. the book is great i purchased it for the course it is called culture & nursing care it is a pocket guide. you can purchase it by the isbn-# 0-943671-15-9. i hope this is some help. good luck!

jgwe4e · Mar 17, 2006

I am no expert on cultural differences, but I have found something that helps in caring for my pts. I try to take my cues for interacting from the pt's and family's behavior. If they rarely make eye contact with me, I'll try to use less direct eye contact. If they shake hands with a very soft grasp, I try to make my grasp equally soft. If the family is asking a grandmother's advice before coming to a decision, I try to make sure to address the grandmother as well as the parents as I'm teaching. My goal is to provide the best care I can in a manner that respects my pt and pt's family, and puts them as much at ease as they can be while stressed by hospitalization.

lahana24 · Oct 11, 2011

Hello, can you tell me what book you got this information from?? I'm writting a care plan and need Cultural considerations for African American and it's not in my Fundamentals book.

PunkBenRN · Oct 11, 2011

Treat them as humans.

When you say African-American care, what I hear is American. Treat them as any other patient unless you run into obstacles, and if they do have cultural differences they will most likely make them known.

Individualized care means just that - don't generalize care based on the color of their skin or where they come from. Some people have strict medical guidelines that are predicated by region or culture, but most people just want to get better. From all this research on cultural approaches in medicine, I have not employed any statutes or behaviors based on the person's ethnic background. Some Asians are very stoic, others are not. Some Latinos are loud and verbose, others are not. Some people like eye contact, some people don't. yada yada yada, at the end of the day they are just a patient. If you want to know, ask them directly. If you are hesitant because the question may come across as stereotyping/racist/insensitive, than maybe the nature of the question is just that in the first place.