Healthcare and nursing are the various measures that have been put in place by the various medical institutions so as to provide the right medical services. It demands that the right standards have to be put in place and be met in the general nursing process. The practitioners in the nursing sector are required to be skilled which demands that they should have a broad mindset that allows them to have a dynamic reasoning on how to conduct themselves in their profession. Instinctual nursing can lead to negative consequences in the case that it is not performed with the required care and neither the routine critique. It is, therefore, important for any student to always develop an intuitive and skillful act in nursing in the event that he is conversant with the right tools that will help in his broad thinking and thereafter apply his thoughts on a routine basis. According to (Cannon-Diehl, 2009), nursing is usually much focused on the provision of treatment to the sick people. However, healthcare focuses more on the events that are put up to make a public awareness on certain health matters. These may include things such the general hygiene of the public, vaccination or a specific treatment against a certain disease. These two practices are usually intertwined and it will be hard to do away with one at the expense of the other. In as much the two would mostly be related to the modern healthcare, most communities in the world have always had their own medical care practices. The Vietnamese, for instance, have their own cultural care which is still used to date.
Background
Vietnam is located in the Asian southeast coast bordered by China, Laos and Cambodia countries. The Vietnamese terrain is characterized by mountainous regions, thick forests with lowlands which lead downwards from these mountainous regions. Just as any community of the world, the Vietnamese have their own cultures of which some are still practiced to date. It understood the general larger population in the Vietnamese soils lives in poor living conditions as well as starvation. This leaves them exposed to attacks from common diseases among other health complications. The most common medical problems in Vietnam include malaria, tuberculosis, anemia and intestinal parasites. With the poor medical facilities and healthcare units in Vietnam, the people there have resorted to some cultural practices so as to mitigate their exposure to various medical complications.
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Aim
The main aim of the research is to determine how the Vietnamese people can be helped to address the various problems the face within the realms of medical health provision. In as much as Vietnam is located in the terrains in which the people are so susceptible to tropical diseases, it is good to know how the people here have been able to mitigate these problems as the healthcare sector in Vietnam is not well efficient as in the developed nations. If there are cultural practices, then the challenges they faced would be important if addressed so as to better their healthcare sector by fixing those missing links.
Research method
My research method shall be qualitative, in that much of the time will be dedicated to talking with the people there, whilst living amongst them. I shall conduct interviews, which I suppose will give me a better scope of information that I need to know about their culture. Confining them to ended questions would ideally not be good as there is a possibility some important information won’t be availed. Being part of them will enable me to observe certain traits and cultures of the Vietnamese community that are interconnected to my study. Open-ended questionnaires will also be administered to the members of the communities who are able to read and right.
Literature review
The Vietnamese people need better health care as they have often faced various incidences that need medical attention. Just as from the time the Vietnamese people arrived in Australia after the end of the war between the years of 1975 and 1990 they have often been reported to be still recovering from their traumatic experiences in which some of them were separated from their families, loss of properties and wealth while some even lost their loved ones in very tragic incidences such as some dying in the sea while trying to escape from war using small fishing boats. As per the assertions of (Tran, 1993), to date, there are still some people who have not recovered from the trauma and therefore still have health problems. In this new nation, it has been hard for them to adapt to the new language, raise children or even find jobs so as to sustain themselves. According to the Vietnamese, it is usually a taboo to seek mental help and should be the last resort when an individual now feels helpless and has no any other place to go. But with this trauma that most of them are experiencing to date, should we let the superiority of their culture to still dominate them? I think no. These people need to heal from their past and it is, therefore, important to help them by giving them the appropriate mental care that they deserve. This can only be achieved if the government together with other willing organization will be ready to offer a hand in helping maybe through educating the masses on the importance of mental care to an individual. This would be a big step towards realizing that the Vietnamese victims of trauma have fully recovered from their past.
It is believed that most of the Vietnamese people exhibit a nature of fortitude, owing to which they tend to not be at liberty to share out their problems with other people. Their problems usually remain close to the heart and not even the family member or a colleague at a place of work is allowed to know. This ought to be not the case as sharing a problem is usually a stepping stone towards solving it. The Vietnamese culture implies that sharing your problems within the society is a sign of losing face and honor within the society. It is therefore necessary to improve the health care and nursing facilities in Vietnam, such that, in the event people in a domestic facility or the medical practitioners within Vietnam realize any of the slightest change in a person’s behavior, moods or physical movements that are contrary to the normal ones, report it to the nearest healthcare facility. According to (Ferguson, 1998), Vietnamese people tend to die with the pain within them and if not assisted there is a great likelihood for the number of causalities to be even more. However, there are some Vietnamese traditional methods that are usually used in healing persons who have pain. It is, therefore, important that if those methods are still to be used today in the society, then they also need to supplement their methods with the modern medicines and therapies as the traditional ones may not be fully effective on the patient. Most of these traditional practitioners usually are the herbalists but I would prefer if the governments and various international organizations help in educating them the possible alternatives to their herbal medicines which can also be used in their communities. Another factor that may be the reason as to why most Vietnamese people do not really want to admit pain is the fact that most of them are Buddhist. Buddhism as a religion requires that one detaches himself from the present and that is why it has been difficult for the Vietnamese to accept these western forms of treatment. The Vietnamese people as according to (Dutton, Werner & Whitmore, 2012), do believe in rebirth and so presume that the life they live today is the same life that they had lived in the past and so there is no likelihood of change but rather perseverance should be the only option. For those who have converted to Christianity still believe that pain usually comes from God, thus giving the person cushion to get back to his old habits.
The Vietnamese people are usually cautious of western medicine. In any case, they are to visit a pharmacist to buy some medicine they usually expect not to be asked for prescriptions of the drug from the pharmacists. To them, this lowers their ego greatly to the extent that most sick patients in Vietnam would rather prefer to stay at their home with their illnesses with the hope that they will get better. To them relief symptoms are quickly expected. They usually presume that the western medicine is only quick and effective in eliminating the symptoms of the disease but not permanent cure is usually met. On some instances, they are forced to reduce the dosage so as to ensure their diseases are effectively treated.
The language barrier is also a contributor as to why the Vietnamese people would rather prefer to seek medical assistance from the herbalists rather than the western medical practitioners who most speak international languages such as English. It is, therefore, important to be a little bit tolerant when attending to the Vietnamese patients as they may not know your language. If need be, one can as well use a translator to listen to the patient’s problems.
Implications for nursing practice
To ensure that there are efficient nursing practices put in place by the Vietnamese people, then the various stakeholders, too have a big role play by educating the masses on the advantages of embracing the western methods of treatment and their effectiveness on contrary to the traditional ones. According to (Hoang & Erickson, 1982) basic lessons in illiteracy and communication also has to be facilitated so as to ensure there is no communication barrier whenever a patient needs to seek attention from any healthcare facilities.
This would play a bigger role in changing the minds of most Vietnamese people on western medicine. They will now embrace it and help solve their illnesses which they have suffered from for some longer periods. The traditional herbalists will also be enlightened on some issues and in the case they are unable to treat a patient effectively, then they may refer the patient to seek advanced medical attention at healthcare facilities. The traditional norms about the western medicines are likely to be washed away from the Vietnamese society.
With illiteracy levels going down in the society, there is likelihood most of the Vietnamese students would, in the long, run want to pursue courses in the medical sector so as to be able to come back and help the members of their communities. This would be a good way in which the healthcare and nursing system can be improved in the Vietnamese people.
However much we are trying to induce something good to the Vietnamese people, it is important that we do not force them out into their culture. The transition period ought to be smooth for the effectiveness of the process. Culture and traditions are good for identity and so is modernization.
References
Cannon-Diehl, M. R. (2009). Simulation in healthcare and nursing: State of the science. Critical care nursing quarterly , 32 (2), 128-136.
Dutton, G. E., Werner, J. S., & Whitmore, J. K. (2012). Sources of Vietnamese tradition . New York: Columbia University Press.
Ferguson, V. (1998). Case studies in cultural diversity: A workbook . Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett.
Hoang, G. N., & Erickson, R. V. (1982). Guidelines for providing medical care to Southeast Asian refugees. Jama , 248 (6), 710-714.
Tran, T. V. (1993). Psychological traumas and depression in a sample of Vietnamese people in the United States. Health & social work , 18 (3), 184-194.
