Ethnocentrism is a belief that persons’ culture or lifestyle is superior to others. Other people describe ethnocentrism a perspective that a certain society’s way of life is superior and ordinary than their neighbours whose approaches are inferior. It means other people’s society or ethnicity way of life is normal, while their counterparts’ is peculiar. Therefore, ethnocentrism harms the healthcare industry, especially nursing, because it violates the practice’s ethics, cultural values, and causes ethical conflicts.
There are several strategies people can use to overcome Western ethnocentrism in a healthcare setting. The first approach is avoiding the westerner’s perspective that people get into illness because of their way of life, which is not a universal way of thinking. Individuals should seek treatment every time they become ill and avoid speculations that might cause them more harm. The next nurses should be culturally competent by providing healthcare to patients based on their culture and beliefs. Therefore, caregivers should refine their skills, become knowledgeable, and do self assessment to overcome Western ethnocentrism. Another approach of shunning from Western ethnocentrism is nurses should follow their operational rules and responsibilities that seek to address the vice. For instance, nurses should abide by the national standards for health care practices.
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The fourth technique of overcoming Western ethnocentrism is performing a cultural evaluation. A healthcare system should utilize a systematic cultural nursing assessment to identify clients’ behaviours, beliefs, meanings, and values. The physicians should implement this while considering people’s physical and social environments, history, and life experiences. Finally, the healthcare providers should overcome cultural dissonance to shun from Western ethnocentrism. Nurses should consider every client that visit their organization unique, yet require similar treatment. Therefore, physicians should serve equally all patients without any form of discrimination.
References
Muñoz, C. C., Luckmann, J., & Luckmann, J. (2005). Transcultural communication in nursing . Clifton Park, N.Y: Thomson/Delmar Learning.