Nursing Healthcare Profession PDF

Guided Reflection

TABLE OF CONTENT
REFLECTION ................................................................................................................................1
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

REFLECTION
I used to believe that within nursing and health care profession there is very limited role
of culture and nurses and other health professionals must not undergo deeper into it. However,
the wide gap between health outcomes and safety of indigenous health and other communities
developed an interest within me to assess the different factors which influences the poor health
of aboriginals. The learnings from this subject have been very useful in improving my
professional efficiencies and understanding. As per the standards of registered nurse the safety
and well-being of patient is highly essential (Taylor and Guerin, 2019).
However, nursing practices and safety standards can be improved by taking culture into
account for the better understanding of the patient. During the learning I came to know the
significance of culture in the assessment of patient. I always used to believe that culture affects
practices of individuals only and nursing practices are not affected by it. However, nurses are
also required to understand the culture and perspective of people of Torres Strait islander people.
In order to understand the health status and nursing approaches for improving there health I
participated in different learning practices.
The three most influential practices which significantly affected my learning process are
ABCD cultural assessment tool, discussion on various articles and yarning circle. One of the best
approach to enhance the learning through reflection process is to incorporate a reflective model
such as Gibb's model of reflection. I can well evaluate my experience using following reflection
model.
Description:
During placement, I encountered patients from diversified cultures. Sometimes it was
easy to communicate with them and to provide care. However, there were instances when I have
to treat aboriginal people and Torres strait islanders because I always found it difficult to develop
care plan acceptable to patients and their family members. However, as per nursing standards it
is mandatory for me to assure that both patients and carers equally participate in the decision-
making for the safety and well-being of patient.
The learning of ABCD approach was helpful to resolve this issue. I tried to explore and
understand the culture and ethical perspective of indigenous community. It helped me to develop
understanding that which care practices are not appreciated by them and how they perceive death
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and dying. Using the learning from this I try to adopt practices which encourages patient health
as well as cooperation from the family.
The spiritual and religious belief of the patient and specific communities influences the
decision-making and family care based approaches of the patient. In the discussion and analysis
of various articles I learned that even nurses provide effective care but if suitable support from
families is not provided then it may not deliver qualitative health outcomes for the patient. I also
witnessed that many indigenous people do not have any access to health care services or the
services which promote the negative health consequences. There are some professionals who do
not provide equal treatment to indigenous people. Thus, in my opinion all nurses must be trained
so that they respect the dignity, feelings, culture and beliefs of indigenous community.
Feelings:
In my opinion the huge difference in the education, culture and social interaction one of
the major factor leading to poor indigenous health. The language and lack of compatibility is also
one of the reason which affect the decision-making of patients as well as service providers
(Power and et.al., 2018). When I used to interact with the indigenous people many times
especially the elderly people find it difficult to understand my language. The stereotypes related
to religion and gender also make it hard for them to take services from people of other cultures.
In such situations I usually feel like that there is need to communicate with them so that they can
start receiving care with positive perspective.
Evaluation:
As learning part everything went well in my opinion. Though there were events when I
was critically analysing the findings so that I can discover actual causes of the issue. For instance
prior to my nursing practice and the learning I was not much concerned and aware of cultural
and health aspects of indigenous community. However, when I participated in the discussion and
analysis of various articles then I came to know the seriousness of the issue and how nurses can
play a significant role in changing the situation. Through yarning circle and discussion with my
patients I also evaluated that indigenous people also desire to live a healthy life. However, they
have been separated from the main stream and are often discriminated. The unavailability of
health care services, nutritional food, drug addiction, lack of education and poverty has been key
driving force in poor indigenous health.
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