Mulitcultural Nursing- pts and nurses views wanted

defeatedcreek · Jan 20, 2008

I always hate when people don't reply to threads, kuka, so I will try to answer your question as best I can.

My background is military medicine and that is one area where you will have multicultural experiences beyond your wildest dreams.

I have worked in Chicago and throughout Asia. I have encountered over twenty distinct cultural groups most of which were assorted pacific islanders. Others I have worked with in the Navy have also done humanitarian work on board ships in South America, Southern Africa, and the Caribbean. Many have been deployed in the middle east.

I'm not sure what experiences you would like to hear about but I would suggest tapping various military sources. We have been worldwide and several of us do love to talk.

TazziRN, RN · Jan 20, 2008

in all my years in the er the most common cultures i dealt with were the mexican and oaxacan people, recent immigrants. we have a very high oaxacan population here, from a region in mexico. the men speak spanish, they are sent to school and learn spanish there. the women usually do not learn spanish and are often brought into the er by their men, who translate for them. this can get tricky when the questions relate to female care, but we have no choice. at that time the at&t language line did not even have a translator for any of the oaxacan dialects.

the hardest part for us to get used to was the fact that the women do not bond with their babies until they're older, perhaps because of a high infant mortality rate. very common to see women holding their newborns like an armful of wood, and the men will just let the babies lay there and cry.

kukukajoo, LPN · Jan 20, 2008

Wow Tazzi- That is really sad when you think about it. Something we take for granted and they know better than to get too attached. I can't even imagine.

I bet to some who are not familiar with the reasoning behind it probably think they are just not nurturing or loving (or good) parents.

Defeated- thank you. We have two former Army medics in my class and I will definately hit them up for their experiences.

I guess what I am looking for is differences in their culture that would affect nursing care and how we do our jobs to accomodate them as best as we can. Sensitivity is important to me and even though we do not have a huge mixed population here in NH we do have many refugees from places like Cambodia, Eastern European countries, African countries. We have a large group of Bosnians and some greeks as well as a bigger group of Jewish lately. I am planning on going to the curches to talk with the priests.

Katie82, RN · Jan 20, 2008

I recently moved from a large city, where I worked with a very diverse population, to a small town. We have a growing population of refugees from a small country in Asia that many people have not even heard of. I am trying to case manage these folks but it is becoming challenging because few people here practice cultural competence. Not only can I not find resources in the language, but it probably won't do me any good, because most of these people are illiterate in their own language. Few people understand what refugees endure before coming to this country, we are used to the undocumented who run across the border at night. Many Americans get defensive when asked to accomodate other cultures, "if they want to live here, let them speak English", and I have never been a proponant of long-term accomodation. But refugees living here with the blessings of the government are usually more eager to aclimate than those who plan to return home after they make a pile of money, and I think they need a little help while they are making the transition. I just think that, as a nation of immigrants, we should be a little more engaged in making these folks good citizens.

Katie82, RN · Jan 20, 2008

I guess what I am looking for is differences in their culture that would affect nursing care and how we do our jobs to accomodate them as best as we can. Sensitivity is important to me and even though we do not have a huge mixed population here in NH we do have many refugees from places like Cambodia, Eastern European countries, African countries. We have a large group of Bosnians and some greeks as well as a bigger group of Jewish lately. I am planning on going to the curches to talk with the priests.

There are a lot of websites that might help you. Sounds like your newcomers are refugees or gov't-sponsored as opposed to undocumented, so there are agencies that may be able to provide you with info and resources. Use the word "refugee" in your search. I found some info on my Burmese by googling refugee healthcare. I have also, after looking at websites, contacting other healthcare providers that have large populations of Burmese, health departments are a good start. Letting people know that you are interested in their culture is the first step, they are usually more comfortable with you knowing you care.

kukukajoo, LPN · Jan 20, 2008

Ksilty- I think that is the norm unfortunately. We will be presenting our project to a very large group of Nurses from NH at a symposium and I plan on doing a lot of educating there. I will make brochures and info papers, etc. I think understanding is one of the biggest hurdles.

I had some experience with Bosnian refugees that could tell you some horrific stories of things they lived with on a daily basis. I worked at a staffing agency and there were about 20 or so of them and a local factory that paid pretty well that needed tons of people. Despite their need, they refused to take any of them. I broke down the objections one by one, including having signs translated and after a few weeks they finally had no good reasons not to hire them! Well they took a few at first, then wanted more! They were some of the best and hardest workers they had! The great thing is that other companies heard about this and began calling me wanting "those hard workers from Russia" and it just caught on from there. I was able to place ALL of them once the employers saw the benefits and I broke down all the barriers.

I guess I am such an idealist I hope to make such a difference in Nursing someday.

kukukajoo, LPN · Jan 20, 2008

I just now saw your other post. Thank you. They are being sponsored by Lutheran Social Services as well as Catholic Charities and I plan on speaking with them for certain, just as I did when I did the employment bit. I have an ongoing relationship with them from community service and I know they will be more than happy to share things in hopes to make it easier for them all to acclimate here in the US.

Great idea about contacting the other healtchare agenices- I am close to Boston and they are a total melting pot for sure. I imagine that many facilities may have someone on staff that educates staff and deals with this on a full time basis. I will also check with Yale in New Haven, CT as they not only have a diverse population there, the city is also very "friendly" to undocumented aliens.

I too have found that these refugees are a blessed bunch and do not take anything for granted and are willing to work very hard to have a good life.

Thanks again- you got my brain working for sure!

nici1978 · Jan 20, 2008

i am german and as a german i can say we are very scheduled people , we like plans and we like to have everything done in a timely manner and we are very independent

which means if you have a german patient make sure they know what is going on

make sure you give the medications on time ( very important)

we also do not show pain so if you have especially an older german if they have pain they will always say no, because showing emotions or pain is a weakness

we like our space, we do not like to be touched by strangers or hugged

( that was odd for me in the beginning because everyone was hugging me, now i am used to it)

generally germans like to be informed about everything that is going on

nici

MNmom3boys · Jan 20, 2008

I would also suggest speaking w/ some of the immigrants that you have a relationship w/ and asking about things w/in the American healthcare system that they find confusing or counter to their beliefs. When I was in school we did a similar project and spoke w/ a Chinese man. It was very enlightening!

elliejayRN · Jan 21, 2008

. multiculturalism-(http://plato.stanford.edu/search/searcher.py?query=multiculturalism)

there are countless people from different cultures arriving in this country all the time. my gosh, the many languages and then dialects of those languages. the moments you think you have the country down, then the various cultures within that country, forget it. i am poorly keeping up with my own culture let alone someone else's. i thought treating others with respect was good, apparently that could also be construed as objectifying others.

i'm just going to have to go along with the human thing. i guess if they see that i care, perhaps the booboos related to their culture won't be so bad. for instance, all the german person said pretty much applies to a lot of folks who aren't of that culture. as humans, we have so much more in common. that has been my experience over the past 20 years in healthcare.

anyway, goodluck with your project-if you come across a book stating that blacks value soul food, radios and are paranoid of whites, don't pay any attention. i've been trying to get the publishers of that little tale to rewrite it. oh, the paranoia part maybe true but that knife cuts both ways.:cheers:

kukukajoo, LPN · Jan 21, 2008

. multiculturalism-(http://plato.stanford.edu/search/searcher.py?query=multiculturalism)
anyway, goodluck with your project-if you come across a book stating that blacks value soul food, radios and are paranoid of whites, don't pay any attention. i've been trying to get the publishers of that little tale to rewrite it. oh, the paranoia part maybe true but that knife cuts both ways.:cheers:

sadly i had an old nursing textbook here (i wish i could find it now) that had a bunch of different food parymids in it for various ages, groups. reading through it i was disgusted to see koolaid on the one for blacks as a drink!! there were other racial biases, but that whole koolaid thing really tripped my trigger and i will never forget how racist the charts were.