Culturally Sensitive Communication: A Capstone Project in Healthcare

This capstone project addresses the critical issue of culturally sensitive communication in healthcare. It emphasizes the increasing diversity of patient populations and the importance of nurses understanding diverse cultural backgrounds to ensure patient safety and equity. The project highlights the need for educational programs to equip nurses with the necessary skills and knowledge to communicate effectively with patients and families from various cultural backgrounds. It explores an action plan that focuses on cultural awareness, improved patient satisfaction, and training for healthcare professionals. The project also identifies the strengths and weaknesses of the action plan, including the need for more research and the influence of sociocultural characteristics. Finally, it discusses potential barriers to implementation, such as differing beliefs and values, and the impact of social determinants of health on communication. The project underscores the significance of culturally sensitive communication for improving patient care and outcomes.

CAPSTONE PROJECT
Capstone Project on “Culturally sensitive communication”
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Introduction
The socioeconomic differences, as well as the increase in population around the world,
have caused an increase in the number of patients who belongs to different cultural backgrounds
(Blanchet Garneau & Pepin, 2015). Nurses should be considerate about the patients’ healthcare
choices based on their diverse culture along with the relevance of communication to ensure
safety and equity in the healthcare environment. In spite of the worldwide focus to improve the
care quality and safety of the patients within the healthcare environment, culturally sensitive
communication is one of the major issues (Brooks et al., 2019). Therefore, understanding the
concept of the problem is important for nurses to enhance their own awareness and recognizing
the best practices while communicating with a patient and family members from a diverse
cultural background (Brooks et al., 2019).
Research evidence suggests that clinicians are not well prepared to initiate
communication with cultural sensitivity, as the options for them to practice educational programs
within this expertise is limited up to some areas (Gallagher & Polanin, 2015). In case of
culturally sensitive communication, the patients and their family members are not much satisfied
with their own care perceptions hence, there is a high risk of miscommunication, along with
cultural disparity causing poor care treatment, and health results (Blanchet Garneau & Pepin,
2015).
Action plan
The action plan related to the issue of culturally sensitive communication is required
within the healthcare environment. It involves the use of educational programs focusing on
engaging nurses with the required information, skills, and knowledge for enabling them to utilize

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such type of sensitive communication with their patients, family members who belong to various
cultural backgrounds. It also involves creating a high level of cultural awareness while
improving patient satisfaction through experiences and perspectives gained during care.
Furthermore, providing training to healthcare professionals to improve awareness of diverse
cultures and beliefs hence, providing a framework based on unbiased decisions and actions
(Gallagher & Polanin, 2015).
Strengths and weaknesses
A major weakness of the action plan is that it lacks particular research evidence to
differentiate the open as well as a highly sensitive style of communication in terms of culturally
sensitive communication (Johnstone et al., 2016). The action plan requires the nurses to be
clinically aware about the culture as well as the beliefs of the patient and the family. The strength
of the action plan is that it helps in improving the understanding of culturally sensitive
communication as nurses could utilize it to define attributes for prioritizing cultural
considerations while establishing a therapeutic relation based on trust (Johnstone et al., 2016).
Barriers
The possible barriers to the implementation of the action plan include the influence of
different sociocultural characteristics of patients, their family members, and nurses on culturally
sensitive communication as they might differ in their own beliefs associated with making a
decision, providing supportive care, as well as treatment (King et al., 2014). Other barriers
include the viewpoint of several patients and family members towards their healthcare provider
as they consider them to be decision-makers hence, leading towards a compromising relationship
between patient and nurse. Furthermore, the social characteristics and factors such as native

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language, values, beliefs based on religion and social determinants of health also that the
application of action plan in terms of culturally sensitive communication (King et al., 2014).
References

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Blanchet Garneau, A., & Pepin, J. (2015). A constructivist theoretical proposition of cultural
competence development in nursing. Nurse Education Today, 35(11), 1062-1068.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2015.05.019
Brooks, L., Manias, E., & Bloomer, M. (2019). Culturally sensitive communication in
healthcare: A concept analysis. Collegian, 26(3), 383-391.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colegn.2018.09.007
Gallagher, R., & Polanin, J. (2015). A meta-analysis of educational interventions designed
to enhance cultural competence in professional nurses and nursing students. Nurse
Education Today, 35(2), 333-340. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2014.10.021
Johnstone, M., Hutchinson, A., Rawson, H., & Redley, B. (2016). Nursing Strategies for
Engaging Families of Older Immigrants Hospitalized for End-of-Life Care. Journal Of
Patient Experience, 3(3), 57-63. https://doi.org/10.1177/2374373516667004
King, G., Desmarais, C., Lindsay, S., Piérart, G., & Tétreault, S. (2014). The roles of
effective communication and client engagement in delivering culturally sensitive care
to immigrant parents of children with disabilities. Disability And Rehabilitation, 37(15),
1372-1381. https://doi.org/10.3109/09638288.2014.972580