Hindu Patient Culture Essay

Understanding a patient’s culture is very important when it comes to caring for the patient. As a nurse, you need to know how that person feels towards certain topics. For example, pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions, end of life care, and dietary measures. The nurse needs to be able to promote the most optimal and culturally competent care they can. The Hindu culture has a very specific belief system when it comes to healthcare modalities.
Hindus have a highly valued and respected holistic medical system call Ayurveda. They believe that all illnesses have a biological, psychological and spiritual element. Good health is achieved when the body and mind has a perfect balance between the person’s elements: ether, fire, air, water and earth. One of the most common Hindu spiritual remedies is Vibhuti, or holy ash. Vibhuti is believed to have protective, purifying and healing properties when put on to the forehead, consumed in small quantities, or carried on the person in a packet. Hinduism has a stigma against mental illnesses. They believe in a concept called the evil eye and believe that it is the source of the mental illness, or they see it as a result of karma from this life or a past life.
Their diet is basically a vegetarian diet. That means no meat, fish, or eggs. The cow is considered …show more content…
It is not on purpose; it is just the nature of that person to carry out the care the way they were taught since they were young. What the nurse may believe and what the patient may believe can be two totally opposite things. That’s why, as a nurse, you need to be aware of the cultural beliefs of the patient to avoid offending someone or going against something they may have wanted or not wanted. To not let cultural beliefs influence care, anyone in the medical field needs to make sense of the situation and decide what to do without relying on God. (Curlin, Lantos, Sellergren, Chin