Cultural Diversity Promotion
Cultural diversity is employed at my workplace through the active recruitment of a multicultural staff. The healthcare organization has hired home health nurses from different cultural backgrounds, including those from minority groups. In addition, the home health nurses work under a department led by a flexible and open leader who is sensitive to promoting equal opportunities while discouraging discrimination and acknowledging differences among the nurses. In addition, the diverse needs of home health nurses have been matched with the patients' diverse needs. Commonalities have been embraced, and diversity has been maximized through the promotion of individual talent.
Diversity training has improved my capacity to showcase cultural competency in patient care. Such training has increased my level of cultural understanding since I am now able to ascertain how a patient’s societal and cultural beliefs relate to their health conditions and treatment plans (Douglas et al., 2018) . Moreover, the training has taught me how to respond to cultural differences. I am also able to recognize potential barriers to care and better protect the cultural values of patients during healthcare service delivery. The diversity training has allowed me to improve my intercultural communication skills significantly while increasing my awareness of my personal biases towards individuals of different cultures.
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Importance of Nutrition
Nutrition plays a significant role in promoting good health in individuals. Nutrition is a key determinant of whether an individual will develop chronic illnesses. Poor nutrition has been linked to various chronic illnesses such as cardiovascular diseases, anemia, cancer, and type 2 diabetes (Shlisky et al., 2020) . Good nutrition reduces the individual’s risk of developing such illnesses, given that essential nutrients found in food enable the body to fight the diseases. Additionally, good nutrition allows the individual to maintain a healthy weight and, in this case, the individual can avoid becoming obese.
Emerging populations, including ethnic minorities and homeless individuals, are exposed to various nutritional challenges. For instance, due to the low incomes, individuals from such groups purchase low-cost foods which are typically high in sugar, fat, calories, and salt. Consumption of such a poor diet contributes to obesity and chronic illnesses. Such foods are typically low in essential nutrients leading to poor health outcomes for the individuals consuming them. Individuals in such groups consume a low number of fruits and vegetables due to the lack of awareness regarding the importance of such foods.
Nutritional deficiencies and excesses can contribute to poor health leading to the development of diseases. Nutrient deficiencies, for instance, the lack of vitamins, can lead to the development of diseases such as rickets, beriberi, and scurvy (Chen et al., 2018) . Nutritional excesses, for instance, the overconsumption of carbohydrates and fat, can lead to the development of obesity and cardiovascular diseases.
Cultural Information and Competency
A nurse can ask the patient about their culture and listen attentively to their responses to gain key cultural information from them. The nurse can also interact with the patient's family members or friends in a scenario in which the patient is unable to speak. I can also enquire about the patient’s culture from my colleagues in the healthcare setting.
Cultural competence allows the nurse to understand the patient’s cultural background, beliefs, and expectations. In this case, the nurse can identify and eliminate potential barriers to care, for instance, language barriers (Daly & Jackson, 2020) . Resultantly, patient care can be improved by eliminating the obstacles and meeting the patients’ needs.
A nurse can demonstrate cultural competency in the healthcare setting by effectively communicating with patients from different cultural backgrounds. In addition, the nurse can learn about other cultures that are different from theirs.
References
Chen, Y., Michalak, M., & Agellon, L. B. (2018). Focus: Nutrition and food science: Importance of nutrients and nutrient metabolism on human health. The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine , 91 (2), 95.
Daly, J., & Jackson, D. (2020). Contexts of nursing: An introduction . Elsevier.
Douglas, M. K., Pacquiao, D., & Purnell, L. D. (2018). Global applications of culturally competent health care: Guidelines for practice . Cham, Switzerland: Springer.
Shlisky, J., Bloom, D. E., Beaudreault, A. R., Tucker, K. L., Keller, H. H., Freund-Levi, Y., ... & Meydani, S. N. (2017). Nutritional considerations for healthy aging and reduction in age-related chronic disease. Advances in Nutrition , 8 (1), 17. https://doi.org/10.3945/an.116.013474
