Transcultural Nursing. A comparison between patients of Christianity and Islam

Seminar paper from the year 2019 in the subject Health - Nursing Science - Nursing Management, grade: 2,0, Fresenius University of Applied Sciences Idstein, language: English, abstract: In the following the term culture is defined and the model of the cultural dimensions of Hofstede is presented. A definition of the concept of Transcultural Nursing follows and a model of the founder M. Leininger's is presented. Subsequently, the differences in the care of Christian and Islamic patients are exemplarily described.

Globalisation and strong migratory movements mean that today every person is confronted with different cultures. In medicine, these changes are also noticeable. The medical care of patients takes place across cultural borders, which requires a corresponding perception of cultural differences on the part of the nursing staff. But also, the ability to incorporate the associated cultural changes into their professional competencies. Not only migrants from a group of foreign patients, but also business travellers or tourists, health tourists or migrants living in the country.

The biggest problem, the care of culturally different patients is not the language barrier. This can, for example, be solved by an interpreter. It is much more difficult to understand each other if there are different cultural concepts, attitudes or views of life which prove to be important factors for successful care. Great challenges are, among other things, different views on family structures, understanding of roles, the status of women or religiously determined food prohibitions or touch taboos.

Transcultural nursing is a central topic dealing with such challenges in care. Overall, the ability to recognise, understand and respond to the needs of different cultural groups and individuals is a major challenge. The aim of transcultural nursing is thus to be able to integrate the skills for such care into everyday working life in a suitable way.