Southern Asai

Southern Asai


One of the greatest challenges to health care today is the increasing diversity of our patient population. The demographics of any healthcare setting is simply a reflection of our changing society at large. Today’s population looks very different than it did fifty years ago. Not only has there been a profound transformation in this area there has also been a shift in the responsibilities that a health-care worker has to his/her patients. They must address the needs of the whole patient and provide care that is not only medically competent but culturally competent as well. The social context is a significant factor in how healthcare is delivered. Transcultural nursing practices have evolved in the latter part of the 20th century and still remain a key part of effective nursing practices. However, understanding is only the beginning. It is only when the key concepts of transcultural nursing are embedded in the practice of an effective and enlightened health care worker can we say with confidence that we are treating the whole patient.

The founder of the transcultural theory is Madeleine Leininger. Her work covered much of the 20th century and beyond and was the first to define Transcultural nursing. It was because of her work and perseverance that this area of nursing became a formalized way of improving health care practices. When she started her nursing career over 60 years ago, the attitudes that permeated throughout our society were much less than open that the ideas of today. This was reflected in the type of care a patient received. She began to notice that many patients suffer because of perceived cultural sights form their health care workers and sometimes even resorted to drastic measures like suicide. Madeleine Leininger saw a real need to attempt to transform the attitudes and approach that were taken by each and every healthcare worker towards each and every patient. This was not always an easy task. Nursing and health care is a people business...

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