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A nurse is providing care to a hospitalized client of Asian descent. What action should the nurse take to provide culturally competent care?
- A. Adhere to a personal knowledge base of Asian values and beliefs.
- B. Ask the client what values and beliefs are important to them.
- C. Provide care from an ethnocentric viewpoint.
- D. Expect that the client's health and illness beliefs are based on Asian traditions.
Correct Answer: B
Rationale: To provide culturally competent care, the nurse must accept the client as a unique individual with their own values and beliefs. To adhere to a personal knowledge base of Asian values and beliefs would be generalization and could lead to stereotyping. Culturally competent care cannot be provided from an ethnocentric viewpoint, which would be based on the nurse's perspective and reflects a lack of experience and knowledge of cultures other than their own. Even though the client is Asian, the nurse should not expect that the client adheres to traditional Asian customs, but should see the client as an individual, providing care based on their individual beliefs and values.
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When the nurse attempts to obtain vital signs, the client pulls away, gathers the bed covers to the chin, and speaks in a language unfamiliar to the nurse. What is the best action for the nurse to take?
- A. Talk slowly and explain current actions.
- B. Use gesturing and pictures to explain current actions.
- C. Smile and take the vital signs anyway.
- D. Attempt to locate an interpreter.
Correct Answer: D
Rationale: Ideally, obtaining an interpreter will increase the communication between client and nurse. Talking slower or gesturing may not provide a clear understanding for client or nurse. Proceeding without the approval of client could violate the client's cultural beliefs.
The nurse is completing a cultural heritage assessment. Which item(s) will be included in this portion of the health assessment? Select all that apply.
- A. Religion
- B. Participation in religious traditions
- C. Health history
- D. Hygiene practices
- E. Use of tobacco
- F. Management of symptoms
Correct Answer: A,B,D,F
Rationale: Health-related beliefs and practices (such as religious traditions, hygiene practices, and management of symptoms) can reflect the cultural heritage of the client. Asking questions can assist in determining cultural heritage. Tobacco use and/or health history assists in the health history but does not reflect upon heritage or culture.
A client of Japanese descent describes a family trait of having less relief from analgesics than a friend of German descent. Which statement best describes this client's situation?
- A. The client should be assessed for concurrent use of herbal preparations.
- B. The client's racial background can affect drug metabolism.
- C. This type of medication should not be prescribed to this client.
- D. Biocultural ecology is the study of biologic cultural differences.
Correct Answer: B
Rationale: The client's racial background can influence many things including drug metabolism, which would explain why the client reports receiving less relief from analgesics than a friend from another racial background. The client should be assessed for the use of herbal preparations but that does not necessarily explain the client's reaction to analgesics. There is no indication that analgesics should not be prescribed to the client. It is correct that biocultural ecology is the study of biologic cultural differences, but this option is not the best description of the client's situation. It just provides a definition of biocultural ecology.
Which describes the inability to recognize the values, beliefs, and practices of others because of one's strong ethnocentric preferences?
- A. Acculturation
- B. Cultural imposition
- C. Cultural blindness
- D. Cultural taboos
Correct Answer: C
Rationale: Cultural blindness is an inability to recognize the values, beliefs, and practices of others because of strong ethnocentric preferences. Cultural taboos are activities governed by rules of behavior that a particular cultural group avoids, forbids, or prohibits. Acculturation involves adapting to or taking on the behaviors of another group. Cultural norms are inclination to impose one's cultural beliefs, values, and patterns of behavior on people from a different culture.
A nurse is completing discharge instructions for a client. The nurse can best evaluate the likeliness that the client will adhere to the instructions by the use of which action?
- A. Make the client promise to follow the instructions and adhere to the plan.
- B. Ask if the client agrees with the instructions that are outlined.
- C. Assess the client's beliefs regarding health maintenance, promotion, and remedies.
- D. Observe the client's face to see if the client is smiling, which can be interpreted as agreement.
Correct Answer: C
Rationale: Some individuals will not openly disagree with people in authority or who possess advanced education, so it is best for the nurse to assess the client's beliefs regarding health maintenance, promotion, and remedies. A client smiling, agreeing to, or promising to comply is not proof of agreement because the client may believe it impolite to disagree with someone seen as being in a position of authority.