The Theory of Culture Care Diversity and Universality developed by Madeleine Leininger is the result of critical reasoning. It is an awareness of the ever-changing world, and at least sixty years of utilizing, developing, and improving theory. The paradigm is not borrowed as it has been developed as a nursing ideology that is very relevant to realize the health needs and care for organizations, groups, families, and individuals from the same and different papers. On that account, the following paper will examine Leininger’s Transcultural theory, and describe the variant characteristics of my culture, and how my worldview has transformed with a change in my variant characteristics.
Transcultural nursing is an examination of cultures to comprehend the similarities and differences in patients. To understand the theory, it is essential to understand the meaning of culture. Culture is described as a set of beliefs and values held by a particular group of people, and is passed between generations. Leininger’s paradigm helps to illustrate better the expectation of the relationship between nurse and patients since fundamentally the nurse is the person who deploys care and is at the center of the patient’s treatment (McFarland & Wehbe-Alamah, 2014). Leininger’s goal is for nurses to dedicate themselves to cultural learning and to deploy a form of care that the patient feels is suitable according to his/her cultural expectations. Nurses should consider this when making their treatment plans. Indeed, the nurse plans treatments that fit a patient’s cultural needs and examines the deployment, to determine whether or not the cultural needs of a patient are thoroughly addressed (McFarland & Wehbe-Alamah, 2014). The Transcultural Theory if Nursing has changed professionals who in the past had less awareness of patient diversity and increased viewpoints that could perhaps be the difference between a patient’s recovery and decline.
Whereas Leininger’s ideologies on nursing care center mainly on the patient, the nurse also benefits from this approach when treating patients. On a worldwide level, nurses still form the most significant percentage of caregivers. By gaining knowledge about cultural variants and assisting patients with their lifeways and their particular settings, nurses have the chance to shine as the most demographically-aware and culturally-understanding group of healthcare professionals (Lor, Crooks, & Tluczek, 2016). However, for some nurses, the transcultural paradigm does not receive enough acknowledgment. A section of nurses are not familiar with the benefits of understanding certain beliefs and values when caring for patients from diverse backgrounds, and this has a negative impact on delivery of care. The role of a nurse as a caregiver is put under jeopardy if his/her quality of care to a patient is questioned since the profession is important to healing. Indeed, there can be no healing without caring.
Through the experience of attending to patients from different backgrounds over time, a nurse will earn a sense of cultural competence. Treating patients as if they belong to one cultural group has the potential to cause real harm to patients. By staying unaware of such differences, the nurse will forego the chance to achieve effective results in the patient’s interest, even if such ramifications are emotional rather than physical (Lor, Crooks, & Tluczek, 2016). If there is a scenario whereby a stressor in a patient’s setting can be overcome, then the nurse should try to ensure this stress is mitigated in a manner that is culturally relevant. In the situation that perhaps a nurse who lacks experience does not have adequate cultural insight, he/she should treat each patient using a sense of open-mindedness and have the passion to care about the effect on the patient; even though the scenario might pose cultural difficulties to the nurse (Lor, Crooks, & Tluczek, 2016). By using general communication, the nurse has the chance to earn knowledge from the patient regarding his/her background; after a while, the nurse will gain the aptitude to recognize different cultures and use past experiences in the care of patients in the future.
The Variant Characteristics of My Culture and How They Have Transformed My Worldview
In the past century, innovations in healthcare and travel have led to novel methods to approach patient care and well-being in regards to my culture. At the heart of key healthcare advancement and global destination for world-class and excellent care, my country is at the forefront of a globalized healthcare sector. Such variants have changed my worldview since they have shown me that nurses have the chance to interact with refugees, immigrants, and a wide range of other patients from diverse cultural backgrounds; this is a concept that is not considered frequently by caregivers in my culture. I now believe that Leininger’s paradigm of transcultural nursing represents the foundation of this profession; If human beings are to live and thrive in a healthy, sustainable, and peaceful world, then nurses, as well as other professionals in the healthcare sector, have to comprehend the cultural values, beliefs, and lifeways of individuals to facilitate beneficial care that is culturally compatible. Such a practice will lead to a better healthcare sector.
References
Lor, M., Crooks, N., & Tluczek, A. (2016). A proposed model of person-, family-, and culture-centered nursing care. Nursing Outlook, 64(4), 352-366.
McFarland, M. R., & Wehbe-Alamah, H. B. (2014). Leininger’s culture care diversity and universality. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.