Nursing Reflective Essay

A similar cultural experience that I have experienced in my nursing practice is provided to augment the importance of cultural awareness. A Spanish speaking woman was admitted to my unit to rule out a stroke. By the time I had the privilege of caring for her she had been in the hospital for two days. I got bedside report, from the previous registered nurse, and was told that she did not speak any English and comprehended only simple English. During report, I couldn’t help but keep looking at this woman’s face, she was scared, confused, and frustrated. I asked if there were any family members involved, and who brought her to the emergency department. It was stated that family brought her to the emergency department and spoke English, but they …show more content…
Basically, most of the aspects included in the neuro assessment were documented as unable to assess. We were not doing this woman any justice by having her lie in the bed, and unable to assess her properly, understand her concerns, know if her symptoms were improving, or having the ability to educate her. After report, I knew there had to be a better way of providing care for her and started by calling different offices and professionals within my facility. I found out that the reason no one has been able to locate an interpreter telephone was because we had gotten rid of that service and got a new video remote interpreter service. I found out how to obtain the new device and followed the instructions to implement it to provide care for her. Although this process took quite awhile to initiate it was worth it when I entered the room with another person on an electronic device that my patient could see and understand. The patient had the biggest smile on her face, she was very grateful and could not stop thanking me. In the end I realized the importance of providing culturally competent care for our