Nurses and other healthcare providers should treat patients, their families and all stakeholders with respect and dignity. Treating people with dignity and respect entails considering them as valued individuals and this helps to create an effective relationship between healthcare professionals, patients, and their families (Jolley, 2020). Human dignity entails valuing the autonomy of patients in making decisions (Crump, 2019). Nurses should practice culturally sensitive care as part of demonstrating their respect for patients and their dignity as having the ability to know what they require and the importance of their cultural aspects and their interactions with healthcare provision.
During the practicum, my preceptor and I have discovered that practicing culturally competent care and valuing patients and their preferences are critical aspects of effective care delivery, especially in implementing capstone projects like the reduction and prevention of hospital acquired pressure injuries (HAPIs). Nurses working in critical care should prioritize human dignity and respect for cultural practices that help patients to attain better outcomes like preventing HAPIs (Portney, 2020). The use of care bundle allows nurses to implement culturally sensitive strategies for patients in critical care settings to lower the prevalence of HAPIs.
Personal strengths concerning practicing culturally competent care, human dignity and respect include valuing individuals based on who they are, accepting diversity as a core part of health care provision, and developing effective rapport with patients and their families in critical care settings. I value palliative care as an essential component of meeting culturally competent care, human dignity, and respect for patients (Crump, 2019). However, a core weakness is prioritizing interventions that are inherently conventional and those that may ignore certain practices that patients may value and prefer. As such, it is important to consider the different aspects that influence patient’s preferences as nurses to deliver quality care (Sæteren et al., 2021). Additional resources that I discovered which can enhance nurses’ ability to practice culturally competent care include sufficient training on diversity and inclusion, provision of materials like research evidence on the importance of integration of human dignity and respect in caring for all patients, and deployment of appropriate technologies to attain expected outcomes.
Crump, B. (2019). Patient dignity. Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing, 23(3), 46-51.
DOI: 10.1188/19.CJON.E46-E51.
Jolley, J. (2020). Introducing research and evidence-based practice for nursing and healthcare
professionals. Routledge.
Portney, L. G. (2020). Foundations of clinical research: Applications to evidence-based practice.
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Sæteren, B. & Nåden, D. (2021). Dignity: An essential foundation for promoting health and
well-being. In G. Haugan & M. Eriksson (Eds.), Health promotion in health care – vital theories and research (pp. 71-84). Springer.
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