Professional Communication: Cultural Sensitivity

Professional Communication: Cultural Sensitivity
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Institutional Affiliation
Professional Communication: Cultural Sensitivity
Article: Castro, A., & Ruiz, E. (2009). The effects of nurse practitioner cultural competence on Latina patient satisfaction. Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, 21(5), 278-286. doi: 10.1111/j.1745-7599.2009.00406.x
As far as the American society is concerned, it is important to note that there is a growing and burgeoning population of Latinos. Because of this, it is important that the American society learns to adjust to accommodate this growing community while simultaneously respecting their uniqueness and culture (DeNisco & Barker, 2016). This is applicable to a majority of sectors in the society, but none is more important than the healthcare sector. This is purposely because the healthcare sector is responsible for ensuring that patients are able to receive adequate health care services in the best manner possible and as well as in the most effective way.
In this sense, it is critical that healthcare practitioners learn to incorporate cultural sensitivity and cultural competence into their skill sets to ensure that they are able to adequately serve the Latino populations across the United States of America (Purnell, 2013). However, it is worth noting that I chose population because of its cultural uniqueness as well as the existence of a significant language barrier that has been a core hindrance to the ability of many Latinos to effectively communicate their needs in the American society (Galanti, 2012). The fact that a majority of the Latino population is fluent in Spanish is a significant influence on how healthcare services will be delivered. It calls for health care practitioners to be competent not only in understanding the culture of this group but also speaking their language which will facilitate better communication of health care needs. In order to ensure the growth and development of a holistic and inclusive health care system, it is important to ensure that all healthcare practitioners, including nurse practitioners, are fully culturally competent going forward.
Summary of Article
As far as this article is concerned, its thesis is focused on exploring patient satisfaction among Latino patients based on how they interacted with nurse practitioners. In order to determine the degree to which nurse practitioners were able to ensure patient satisfaction, this article chose to focus on the cultural competence of the nurses in question. It explored how the nurses were able to understand the culture of Latino patients as well as adjust to the various cultural and language needs that these patients exhibited in order to deliver health care services. For the study, a sample of 15 nurse practitioners was selected and assessed for cultural competency by completing two self-administered questionnaires. To provide a holistic perspective for this study, a sample of 218 Latino patients was provided with 3 self-administered questionnaires in both English and Spanish which they used to grade how well they interacted with the various nurse practitioners (Castro & Ruiz, 2009). These nurses were then examined on their ability to interact with a...