The Lion's Pride Lion's Pride Volume 12 (Spring 2019) | Page 43

Respecting cultural norms and striving to understand people’s
differences promotes a feeling of being valued (Narayan, 2010).
Analysis and Reflection
It is disheartening to learn minority groups, when compared to whites,
receive less ideal care, such as pain assessment and management. I think
it is a misconception that every patient is treated with the same level of
care. Patients who do not speak English or have different cultural and
spiritual practices from their nurse can make the assessment process and
care plan more challenging and time-consuming. The nurse is then
required to ask more questions, clarify the patient’s full understanding,
and discover and learn about their patient’s culture to help make
accommodations.
I work in Pre-Surgical Admitting at a hospital, and we have minority
patients who speak a language other than English and are part of a
different culture than the nurses admitting them. The nurses try their best
to put bias aside and to treat every patient with their best care.
Sometimes, when they are unable to relate to their patient, I see them
struggle through their admit process. I have seen staff start talking in a
louder voice to their patients who are unable to understand the words
being said, as if they are hard of hearing. Aside from embarrassing me,
the nurse intimidated their patient from trusting them with personal
information about their views on pain management. They did not