Help!

[student_nurse_44]

I have this nursing project over other cultures. One of the things I have to talk about is nursing implications, I have no idea what that is. Is that how nursing can make a difference in other countries?

[Daytonite, BSN, RN]

Hi, student_nurse_44 and welcome to allnurses! :welcome:

If you look up the definition of "implication" or "implicate" in a dictionary, this is what you will find: "to twist or fold together; intertwine entangle; something implied, from which an inference may be drawn." (Webster's New World Dictionary, College Edition, 1957)

Nursing implications of cultures means that we adapt the nursing actions we will take, or perform, to patients from other cultures taking into consideration those people's habits, manners and ways of doing things. In my own personal practice, I have mostly seen this come up with regard to religious beliefs, but it also includes the cultures of various countries.

As an example, I worked in a kosher Jewish facility for several years that followed strict kosher dietary laws. As a result, we nurses had to follow the kosher laws in how we handled the patient food. We had to learn the dietary laws and when we were hired were inserviced on how to tell the difference between the dishes and utensils that were used for dairy meals and those used for meat meals. We had two refrigerators on the unit where we were to keep the two classifications of food separated. Many Jewish like to fast and pray on Yom Kippur as this is customary for this holy holiday. We accommodated the patients who wished to continue this practice by making sure (these are the nursing implications and nursing interventions) the kitchen knew who the fasting patients were, the CNAs knew the patients were fasting, to be respectful of the patients who were fasting, not to make the mistake of offering or encouraging them to eat and to make sure they had water to drink (fasting does not mean the withholding of water).

Here are some links to information on how culture affects nursing care. You might want to save these links for future school assignments:

• http://www.culturediversity.org/ - Transcultural Nursing: Basic Concepts and Case Studies
  
• http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a.tcl?topic=Transcultural+Nursing
  
• http://www.tcns.org/ - Transcultural Nursing Society. Click on the link "Transcultural Nursing Theories and Model" at the left side of the home page. Then, click on the link for "Transcultural Concepts in Nursing Care" by Margaret M. Andrews, PhD, RN, CTN, FAAN and Joyceen S. Boyle, PhD, RN, CTN, FAAN. The beginning of this 5-page document pretty much describes the answer to your question.