Hospital Nurses' Experiences of Providing Care for Muslim Patients in the United States

INTRODUCTION

Understanding a patient's culture is imperative to providing holistic patient care. The purpose of the study is to describe and explore the lived experiences of non-Muslim hospital-employed registered nurses providing care for Muslim patients in the United States.

METHOD

This study used a qualitative exploratory research design based on semi-structured interviews utilizing Husserlian phenomenology. A snowball technique was used to recruit the participants.

RESULTS

Ten nurses who cared for hospitalized Muslim patients were interviewed and three major themes emerged from the participants' narratives: Nurse-Patient Relationship, Nurses' Knowledge and Western Health Care Systems, and Family Influence.

DISCUSSION

Muslim patients have cultural expectations and differences that may not be anticipated by nurses, which affects nurses' experiences when providing care. As the Muslim population continues to grow in the United States, there is a need for increased education on culturally congruent care to assure the highest quality of nursing care.

Using a model to design, implement, and evaluate a training program for improving cultural competence among undergraduate nursing students: a mixed methods study

BACKGROUND

Due to changing population, culturally diverse clients with different perceptions of illness and health are present in healthcare settings. Therefore, it is increasingly important for nursing students to have high levels of cultural competence in order to meet diverse client needs. A training program is essential to enhance students' cultural competence. This study aimed to design, implement, and evaluate a cultural care-training program to improve cultural competence of undergraduate nursing students.

METHODS

This exploratory mixed methods study used six steps proposed in the Talbot and Verrinder model to design a training program. In the first step, a conventional qualitative study was conducted and 18 participants were interviewed using purposive sampling. In the second and third steps, literature review and the classic Delphi technique were used for initiation and finalization of the program. The fourth, fifth, and sixth steps were completed by implementing, monitoring, and evaluating the cultural care program (five two-hour sessions) among 73 nursing students using a quasi-experimental design. Finally, effectiveness of program was evaluated through the cultural care inventory before and 1 month after the program. Data were analyzed via SPSS25, independent samples t- test, paired t- test, chi-square test, analysis of covariance, and multivariate linear regression tests.

RESULTS

A systematic model was used to identify key elements of a cultural care program, including main topics, educational objectives and contents, assignments and activities for students, teaching and evaluation methods. The curricular objectives and educational contents were implemented in five sessions to produce measurable results. The quantitative step showed that nursing students' cultural competence in the intervention group (184.37 ± 22.43) improved significantly compared with the control group (153.19 ± 20.14) (t = 6.24, p = 0.001) after intervention.

CONCLUSION

A cultural care training program can be designed by the model applied in this study in order to improve cultural competence of nursing students. This training program will be effective if students' learning needs, appropriate assignments, and acceptable teaching methods are addressed. Therefore, nurse educators can design comprehensive training programs to improve nursing students' cultural competence in different cultures and contexts. This training program is highly efficient because it is applicable in many disciplines of nursing education.

Relationship between nurses' cultural competence and observance of ethical codes

BACKGROUND

Cultural competence is considered as one of the main skills of nurses enabling them to provide nursing care for those with different cultures. One of the cases related to nurses' cultural competence is observance of ethical codes, but it has not been investigated sufficiently in studies.

AIM

This study has been conducted to determine the relationship between nurses' cultural competence and observance of ethical codes in practice.

RESEARCH DESIGN

This descriptive-correlational study was conducted in 2020. Sampling was done at several stages. The data were collected using questionnaires of demographic information, cultural competence, and observance of ethical codes as self-report. The questionnaires were provided to the subjects by the corresponding researcher and the data were analyzed using Pearson correlation test.

PARTICIPANTS AND RESEARCH CONTEXT

This study was done with participation of 267 nurses working in four training hospitals located in northwestern Iran and 16 head nurses of selected wards.

ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

The study was approved by Human Ethics Committee of Hamadan University of Medical Sciences. Participation was voluntary. Consent was obtained and confidentiality kept.

FINDINGS

The results of Pearson correlation coefficient test showed a positive and statistically significant relationship between cultural competence and observance of ethical codes (r = 0.524, p = 0.001). In addition, cultural competence and observance of ethical codes by most nurses were at a moderate level.

CONCLUSIONS

The results of the present study showed a significant relationship between nurses' cultural competence and observance of ethical codes. Therefore, it can be concluded that by strengthening the level of nurses, the level of observing ethical codes by them can be increased. Cultural competency and observance of ethical codes are important components of nursing care, and their development can improve nursing care delivery to clients through academic training, hidden curriculum and in-service education.