Heritage Assessment free essay sample

It is becoming more challenging to practice nursing due to the multicultural diversity and less awareness of their culture making it even harder to provide safe and appropriate patient care. Hence as Nurses, it is very important to learn and understand the various culture and heritage to provide quality care to the individual in need. The care is provided based on their culture, acknowledging it and respecting their beliefs, values and customs. This paper here will compare the differences in health traditions between the Indian, African-American and Pilipino heritages, addressing their approach towards health maintenance, health protection and health restoration. The Heritage assessment tool is a tool used in clinical nursing practice by nurses and other health care workers to understand the social factors, values, beliefs, and traditions of the multicultural groups for whom they provide quality care. These tools enable us nurses to provide effective transcultural nursing care. Identification of cultural details is highly crucial to diagnose, manage and treat the patient. We will write a custom essay sample on Heritage Assessment or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page If unknown, it would delay patient care and put patients at risk. It is recommended that, health care workers identify the cultural needs as early as possible on admission, in order to plan the right care based on the individuals and families cultural beliefs and needs. When compared the cultural differences amongst Indian, Nigerian and Pilipino, it was revealed that there were few similarities and few differences noted amongst the three cultures. The few similar things noted were, all cultures were close to the family. The parents get to stay with their son or daughter until they die and never had to live alone. They all preferably marry from their own ethnic background and continue their relationship, thus maintaining contact with their extended family in a close manner and by visiting them more frequently. Most of all, they lived as a big joint family which develops the closeness in everyone, and helping each other with whatever they can. Indian Culture Health was maintained by means of practicing certain routines like, everyday first thing in the morning bath and pray to the Sun God and perform â€Å"Surya Namaskar† in a way like yoga, eating freshly cooked meals everyday and manually doing their work at home rather than using washing machines and dishwashers, use a broom and sweep the house and sit and wipe the floor rather than mopping, another way to ensure one exercises. Men practically did everything outside the house; they are the breadwinner of the house. In India, most of the people practice Hinduism, the aspects of Hinduism that commonly affect health decisions and communications between the patient, family and healthcare provider includes certain specifics like, Karma a law of behavior and one’s consequences resulted from the actions of the past lives is related directly to the illness in this life, caused by Karma. Disease which is caused by an imbalance of the bodily humors called dosha is cured by restoration of balance through meditation, diet, oil massages and natural medicine. Most patients are treated holistically, by means of herbal remedies through treatment called Ayurvedic . Lately trend is different with the modern people going to hospitals and seeking medical attention as and when needed. Food – Mostly vegetarians but few non vegetarians. It is important to be aware that non-vegetarian food is not permitted on certain days like Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays. Overeating is generally avoided because of the risk of decreased life span. Most of the ladies practice fasting regularly in the name of God/Goddess, which is said to have a way of neutralizing or minimizing chaos in the body. Fasting helps to discipline the senses and cultivate control over them. Slowly desires are controlled and we feel more peaceful and it minimizes the demands of the body. Health promotion is practiced by means of reaching out in the community and immunizing everyone, educating and providing birth control to prevent HIV/STD diseases, prevention and control of local endemic diseases, prevention of malnutrition are a few. Malnutrition is prevented by providing free healthy school lunches in public schools, which follows the food pyramid strictly. Community Health has Primary care centers, where free clinics are open to the public for Health promotion and prevention. Health is restored by consuming healthy food and following a healthy lifestyle. Pilipino Culture Health according to the Pilipino culture was based on the principle of balance and harmony. Rapid shifts from â€Å"hot† to â€Å"cold† lead to illness. Their theory of illnesses could be due to behaviors such as retribution from ancestors or unfulfilled obligations, retribution by supernatural beings like evil spirit or a sorcerer or naturalistic causes like infection. Their beliefs are oriented towards protection of the body and follow the concept of flushing (induce sweating, vomiting), heating (staying warm) and protecting. They had strong family beliefs due to which maintaining health was viewed as a responsibility to the family. This led the Pilipino people to seek medical attention when needed for the family, and follow medical treatment plans. Exercising, walking, body awareness were few other important aspect towards health maintenance, they were said to follow strict healthy diet except for which became difficult when guests were around most of the times. It is disrespectful and brings shame to the culture if food was rejected or turned off. Pilipino stresses the importance of balance and moderation as key concepts to maintain health and prevent diseases. They insist on cleanliness, orderliness, appropriate social conduct in various situations, and avoidance of social, emotional, or psychological distress helps to keep one’s body strong. Elders seek medical attention as and when needed until rejected by the family members due to the fear and obligation towards protecting the elders from external forces. Health promotion is by means of regular health screenings, immunizations, counseling and health education. Nigerian culture Western and traditional forms of medicine are popular in Nigeria where the traditional medicine, known as â€Å"juju† is common at the rural level, treats using variety of plants and herbs. Traditional healers called surgeons. The sign of disease and illness is seen as a sign of imbalance with the natural or the spirit world. Rural people do not trust modern medicine, so prefer traditional ways. According to them, the traditional medicine is very effective and produces fewer side effects than modern drugs. They gave importance to cleanliness, personal hygiene, proper food handling etc. Health care centers are used only as a secondary source when traditional medicine has failed. Clinics in Nigeria have limited facilities, but consultations are free, while they have to pay for treatment and hospital admission. Their food consists of lot of fried items and they consume food high in fat and traditionally people view obesity as positive. They preferably like their same gender person take care of them. People when they migrate and become modernized don’t go looking for traditional therapies; instead seek medical attention as needed. They try to exercise and practice healthy lifestyles and eating habits to promote health. They are very religious and consider health improvement as a miracle. Health promotion was noticed in areas of breast feeding, nutritious food for mom after child birth and immunizations promote treatment of epidemic diseases, improve food supply and nutrition and support maternal and child care. Conclusion Overall the heritage assessment tools improve nursing care delivery and patient satisfaction. In this modern world filled with multicultural people all around, it is important that nurses be prepared, respectful, acknowledge and accept the multiple cultures all around. With the latest development in modern science and technology, it would be great to have a tool which would generate the cultural information and details of the individuals on admission, to deliver efficient care.