Palliative Care: Cultural Considerations in Healthcare Case Study

This case study examines the palliative care of Amy, an immigrant, and highlights the crucial role of cultural sensitivity in healthcare. Amy, diagnosed with a condition, receives care from hospital staff who demonstrate respect for her cultural practices, including allowing her family to bring in food and speak their native language. The nurses and doctors prioritize Amy's and her family's cultural needs, fostering a comfortable environment. This approach positively impacts Amy's and her family's emotional well-being, allowing them to spend quality time together and grieve in their own way. The case underscores the importance of understanding and accommodating diverse cultural backgrounds in healthcare to enhance patient care and promote a sense of dignity and respect, even in challenging circumstances. The healthcare staff's actions, such as providing a medical interpreter and respecting dietary preferences, showcase cultural competence and its impact on patient and family satisfaction.

Running head: PALLIATIVE CARE
PALLIATIVE CARE
Name of Student
Name of University
Author’s Note

1PALLIATIVE CARE

2PALLIATIVE CARE
The staffs in the hospital play a vital role in the treatment of the patients, as patients in
their whole period of treatment interact more with the hospital staff rather than their healthcare
professionals (Douglas et al., 2013). Nurses with the help of their communication skills tries to
comfort the patients along with the family, to make it easy for them. Different code of conducts
helps the staff to respect the patient’s culture, beliefs, values and viewpoints (Sorra et al., 2015).
In the given case study, Lan an immigrant staying in Australia, with her mother, Mei and son,
Erik, gets sick in her late 50s. Lan changed her name to Amy, as she moved in to Australia; she
learned English and raised her son all by herself. She worked in a fruit-canning factory and was
able to feed her family of three. She is comfortable with both English and her traditional
language Mandarin. She has also made good friends in her work place and neighborhood
community. Amy started forgetting things, at first it was okay, but later Erik noticed that she had
trouble finding words and was repeating herself during conversation. Erik along with his
grandmother Mei took Amy to the hospital for her treatment (Media.pcc4u.org., 2019).
The staff at the hospital was very kind, the nurse even brought a medical interpreter who
knew Mandarin language, in order to make Amy’s family feel comfortable and close with their
culture. The attitudes of the staffs play a significant role in making the patient feel comfortable in
the hospital, which will help in enhancing the treatment period of the patient (Loftin et al., 2013).
Amy’s mother used to cook for her when she was in the hospital. In the case study, when the
Nurse replied, “many cultures bring in food in the same way others bring in flowers”
(Media.pcc4u.org., 2019) after being asked by a worker that “why do we provide Amy with
food, because there is always a bowl of food in her room?” shows that Nurse was respecting their
culture. This act of nurse made both the patient and her family member feel happy and satisfied,
as they were practicing their culture of caring people by bringing them food. It is important for

3PALLIATIVE CARE
the nurse staff to understand their cultural practices, because different cultures have different
practices, which are practiced by the patient in regular basis (Jeffreys, 2015). In addition, the
patient also feels comfortable and feels like home, this assists in boosting the care and treatment
period of patient. Without any objections in the cultural practice of the patient, the patient and
their family feel respected and dignified, because for them their culture means everything.
Moreover, when the patient feels their culture being respected, the patient feels good and
comfortable about it, which is the first step towards the self-healing process (Shen, 2015). With
the cultural assistance of the hospital staff, Amy was able to meet her family members quite
often in the hospital and converse in their own traditional language without any objections. The
nurse understands that different cultures have different way of communicating and they feel
comfortable in conversing in that way. The nurses need to be aware of the cultural beliefs of the
patients, as cultural background is reflected in the patient’s behavior. It is important for the
nurses to understand that every patient should be treated as an individual (Montenery et al.,
2013). In the case study, the nurse treats Amy as an individual by asking the worker to provide
Amy with food, even though Mei brings Amy’s food. In addition, the nurse says that Amy will
choose whatever food she likes, she will eat that. This shows the kind and caring attitude of the
nurse towards her patients. By allowing Amy’s family to bring in food for Amy and visiting her
more often, the nurse not only helped the patient to feel comfortable but also the patient’s family
to say close with the patient during the hard times of the patient. Although, Amy passed away,
but the nurse tried everything it was possible to do for the patient.
The attitudes of the nurses towards the Amy’s cultural practices had a positive impact on
the psychological well-being on Amy’s family. Without any objection to practice their own
culture, the patient and her family were very happy and satisfied. Amy was satisfied because she

4PALLIATIVE CARE
was being able to spend more time with her son and mother, and in addition, she was eating
homemade food made by her mother, which made her feel like home. The family of Amy was
happy and satisfied, because they were able to do as much as they can from their side without
any objections from the hospital officials, so that Amy gets better and continue to live her
prosperous life. The hospital officials and staff allowed Amy to eat Mei’s handmade food,
because they understand the different cultural practices. In the end, when Amy passed away, the
doctor consoles Erik by asking him to take as much time they want and if they need any help,
they can contact the staff. If only the hospital official had asked them to control their emotions or
not to cry loudly, this would have lead the impact of negative emotions among the family, as
they would not have been able to express their emotions of Amy’s death (Galanti, 2014). This
shows the significance behavior of cultural practices over the different norms and regulations of
the hospital. The doctor believed that every individual had their own way of grieving (Morrison
& Korol, 2014), and that should be respected, which helped the family members to express their
love for Amy in their own cultural way, rather than being asked to maintain the hospital
regulations. So that the family members feel satisfied, it is obvious that no amount of satisfaction
can cover up the pain for Amy’s death, but still the hospital staffs and officials did everything
they can in order to make them feel comfortable and stress free (Friedman & Kern, 2014). With
the staff’s assistance, the patient and the family members were able to avoid the negative
emotions regarding Amy’s health; also, they were feeling positive and secured that Amy’s
treatment was in right hands. Moreover, Mei and Erik were able to spend time with Amy before
her death and thus they were satisfied and thankful to the hospital staff and officials for allowing
them to practice their culture, which also helped Amy to stay in close with her culture during her
last few days.

5PALLIATIVE CARE
References
Douglas, M. K., Pierce, J. U., Rosenkoetter, M., Pacquiao, D., Callister, L. C., Hattar-Pollara,
M., ... & Purnell, L. (2013). Standards of practice for culturally competent nursing care:
2011 update. SALUTE E SOCIETÀ.
Friedman, H. S., & Kern, M. L. (2014). Personality, well-being, and health. Annual review of
psychology, 65.
Galanti, G. A. (2014). Caring for patients from different cultures. University of Pennsylvania
Press.
Jeffreys, M. R. (2015). Teaching cultural competence in nursing and health care: Inquiry,
action, and innovation. Springer Publishing Company.
Loftin, C., Hartin, V., Branson, M., & Reyes, H. (2013). Measures of cultural competence in
nurses: An integrative review. The Scientific World Journal, 2013.
Media.pcc4u.org. (2019). AMY'S STORY. [online] Available at:
http://media.pcc4u.org/videos/Topic4_Amy/Transcript_Amy.pdf [Accessed 6 Aug.
2019].
Montenery, S. M., Jones, A. D., Perry, N., Ross, D., & Zoucha, R. (2013). Cultural competence
in nursing faculty: A journey, not a destination. Journal of Professional Nursing, 29(6),
e51-e57.
Morrison, K. B., & Korol, S. A. (2014). Nurses' perceived and actual caregiving roles:
identifying factors that can contribute to job satisfaction. Journal of Clinical Nursing,
23(23-24), 3468-3477.

6PALLIATIVE CARE
Shen, Z. (2015). Cultural competence models and cultural competence assessment instruments in
nursing: a literature review. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 26(3), 308-321.
Sorra, J., Khanna, K., Dyer, N., Mardon, R., & Famolaro, T. (2014). Exploring relationships
between patient safety culture and patients' assessments of hospital care. The Journal of
nursing administration, 44(10 Suppl), S45-53.