When nurses have patients from another culture, they need to assess the patient’s culture in order to provide adequate health care. To assess these large, complex cultures and provide proper care, nurses often utilize transcultural models to break down the culture into smaller fragments; transcultural models help health care workers assess cultural values and gives insight to their beliefs, values, and behaviors (Tas, 2013).
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If communications are barred during collection of subjective and objective data, the patient can often feel fearful or misunderstood; this is especially true when there is a language barrier. If the nurse cannot speak the client’s native tongue, a non-family translator should be present to properly bridge the gap between care staff and patient. Cultural disconnections can also occur between the nurse and their patient if the nurse is not properly trained to read body language or facial expressions (Critchfield, 2015). These two non-verbal communications can tell the nurse if the patient can fully understand the situation and how they are reacting to certain news. This can be a subtle nod to confirm understanding when explaining new diet restrictions or avoiding eye contact to and being non-responsive that portrays misunderstanding or, in some cases,