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PRNU 115- Professional Practice II

Professional Portfolio Assignment- Part D

Vancouver Island University

Jaden Dodds
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LA 2 Reflection #1-Reflection-On-Action

Focus Question: How does getting to know a client's culture improve quality of care?

Before doing this learning activity in class, I had a good idea of what providing good

quality care to individuals would look like. In school, we have learned about providing a holistic

approach when caring for clients and treating them as a whole. Although we have the tools

necessary to provide great care, we can go even deeper when getting to know our clients

individually. Before we enter the client's room, not only should we leave our personal opinions at

the door, but we should also be understanding of how different cultural upbringings can affect

how an individual perceives health. As a result of past events and traumatic histories for some

clients, this may change how much trust they have towards health care providers which is why it

is so important for us to be open-minded and culturally aware in order to eventually provide

cultural safety for them. Instead of being frustrated when a patient refuses care from a nurse or

doesn't like things being done a certain way, we should try to figure out why they feel that way

so we can adjust our approach and get to know them better.

For reflecting on action, the first adjustment in my approach for clients from a different

culture would be performing a cultural assessment. This could look like asking questions such as

“What are your spiritual beliefs as they relate to your illness?”. In addition to this, getting to

know a client's nutritional preferences and how they view medicine can be very beneficial in

building trust and a better nurse-client relationship. I personally know from my own culture that

my family does not like to use medication unless it's needed and prefers to use herbal remedies

first. Something as simple as a Vix vaporub was a staple in my household growing up and my

mother and grandma would use it for everything. Upon reflecting, I realized that I should not be

afraid of offending someone from a different culture as long as my intentions are pure when I am
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asking them questions to be able to provide them with better care. Today I feel like we live in a

world where everybody is so afraid of offending each other that it holds us back from getting to

know one another on a deeper level. As healthcare is unique to every patient, that also means we

will have a different approach for each patient as well. Something like the WIN technique or

using FELOR when communicating may not necessarily work on all people, especially if eye

contact isn’t appreciated in certain cultures. This is why we should always be working towards

providing a place of cultural safety for all our clients in order to build a better level of trust and

improve our quality of care.

Need to Know/Research

When reflecting on what I could improve on for this learning activity, I thought working

on my cultural competence would benefit me quite a lot in my career as it is a lifelong learning

opportunity. So what is cultural competency? It is "being aware of your own cultural beliefs and

values and how these may be different from other cultures—including being able to learn about

and honor the different cultures of those you work with" (NTAECSC, 2009, para. 5). In general,

I think having a focus on being empathetic towards your clients no matter what race, culture, or

relgion they are from will go a long way. In class, we got to practice this by grouping together

with classmates who were from different cultural backgrounds and got to see how their families

viewed health and what their beliefs were. This was very interesting to me since I was learning

about things from each different culture and now I could apply that knowledge in the future

when working with clients from that culture or religion. For example, I did not know that in the

Muslim religion, whenever they pray, they face Mecca. This is valuable to know since there may

be a time in the future when I am working and a Muslim patient may be trying to request they
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want their bed turned for when they pray. Overall, When building relationships and becoming

more culturally competent, we should focus on making the patient feel comfortable and safe by,

“Not judging or disregarding a patient’s belief and religious background, but encouraging them

to do what works best for them” (The Chicago School, 2020, para. 10). This can apply to their

nutritional preferences, how they like to bathe, their communication and body language, and

more.

LA 1 Reflection #2-Reflection-In-Action

Focus Question: What have I learned about the qualities of a good leader in LPN practice?

During this learning activity, I learned that being a leader is much more than just being

someone people look to when things go wrong or just assigning tasks to others. As an LPN, we

will be working directly with HCAs to who we will be expected to assign tasks in order to aim

for a successful day. Knowing this, things can go very wrong in the blink of an eye, and all of a

sudden we may find ourselves in a state of chaos. In one of the slides, we learned that in the

midst of chaos, we should be much more Yoda and a lot less superman (Sherman, 2020). As

someone who has watched both Starwars and Superman, I can understand that the metaphor

means to focus on being wise and patient when things go wrong instead of trying to be a

superhero and help everybody. I think this applies very well to the clinical setting as we can’t

help everyone, especially during a time of chaos, but what we can do is continue to be patient

and remember that “this too shall pass”. Being honest and using clear communication goes a

long way when working with others. At the end of the day, we only have two arms and two legs,
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so learning to remember to remain calm and collect my thoughts when things aren't going as

expected will not only help me but also help calm everyone else's nerves as well.

Need to Know/Research

Something I’d like to learn more about in this area is an interprofessional collaboration

which is described as, “multiple health workers from different professional backgrounds working

together with patients, families, caregivers, and communities to deliver the highest quality of

care” (O’Connor, 2019, para. 4). The reason why this stuck out to me is that being a good leader

should also mean that you can work well with your team in order to provide high-quality care.

Being able to collaborate and solve problems in the middle of chaos will be a very important

skill for me to have when I am working as an LPN in the future and there is an emergency. Not

only is building trust with our clients important, but having your coworkers or teammates trust

you will help everyone achieve greater possibilities when working together.

An article by the National Library of Medicine stated that “Interprofessional collaboration occurs

when 2 or more professions work together to achieve common goals and is often used as a means

for solving a variety of problems and complex issues” (Green & Johnson, 2015, para. 1). Even

though I may not get along with everyone who I work with in the future, just understanding that

we are a team and we are working in the health care career for similar reasons, just

communicating and finding some common ground will set a good foundation for working

together and create good team chemistry to provide our patients with the best care.
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References

Sherman, R. (2020). Five tips to promote stability in a time of chaos.

TigerConnect, W. O. M. C. A. (2022, September 12). 5 Benefits of Interprofessional

Green, B. N., & Johnson, C. (2015). Interprofessional collaboration in research, education, and
clinical practice: working together for a better future. The Journal of Chiropractic Education,
29(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.7899/jce-14-36

Colich, A. (2021, December 7). The Importance of Cultural Competence in Nursing - Insight
Digital Magazine. Insight Digital Magazine. https://www.thechicagoschool.edu/insight/health-
care/the-importance-of-cultural-competence-in-nursing/#:~:text=Examples%20of%20Cultural
%20Competence%20in%20Nursing&text=A%20few%20key%20traits%20include,the
%20patient%20at%20all%20times.

Defining Cultural Competency - Child Welfare Information Gateway. (n.d.).