Changing patterns of health psychology is incorporating advanced procedures influencing patient illness and sickness. Chronic diseases, illnesses, and disorders are related to specific healthcare settings and vary among regions.
It depends on the factors prevalent in lifestyle, such as choice of healthy consumption patterns, smoking, alcohol consumption, overeating, etc. Healthcare professionals are more aware of cultural differences and are more likely to treat patients respectfully to avert such cultural issues.
Health Psychology and Cultural Competencies
Patients belong to different categories. They differ in several ways, such as personality, illness type, education, and socioeconomic class. Cultural differences among patients, such as race, color, and ethnicity, are more significant.
Health psychology is an art, and nurses should be acquainted with it. However, cultural customs and traditions provide sufficient knowledge about the patient and help nurses understand various aspects of taking good care of a patient.
This approach is known to improve the quality of healthcare. This is also called patient-centeredness. In health psychology, many policies are adopted worldwide to develop the nurse-patient relationship, and cultural competency is one of them.
In doing this, it is essential to understand that the patient is unique. Skin color significantly differs among people; it can effectively elaborate on different issues and disorders. Sometimes, it becomes difficult to identify disease or injury due to tan skin color.
Skin is the most significant organ of our body. Skin color best indicates internal health, and in case of an internal problem, doctors determine a change in skin tone.
Healing injuries and wounds are also related to skin color as it plays a role. For instance, in the case of a dark-colored patient, pallor occurs, and it indicates anemia. In the case of skin burns, the nature and color of the skin bear central importance to understanding the degree of effectiveness.
Nurse-Patient Relationship
The nurse-patient relationship is supportive of creating a healthy environment. It is related to the patient’s wellness and should be built on care, respect, trust, empathy, and interest. These attributes are typical of nurse care. In a therapeutic nurse-patient relationship, a friendly environment is built, which supports patient healthcare.
The nurse community is based on care, love, affection, kindness, and empathy. Trust and respect are the main components that can direct a patient to healing.
The types of patients and treatment with them are different. Care, friendliness, pleasant atmosphere, and approachability are peculiar features that matter in healthcare.
The nurse-patient relationship is established when a patient trusts his healthcare professional, such as maintaining eye contact, elaborating on their body conditions, etc. Patients feel comfortable when they are supported morally or held in their hands. These practices are beyond any cultural competencies and focus on health psychology.
Communication Strategies for Cultural Group:
Communication practices work when the underlying patient seeks attention. This strategy is constructive in making patients healthy and providing them compassion. Communications skills build patient nurse relation, supports them, and connect them. A high level of care and relationship-building is possible through active communication.
This is also necessary to understand patient needs, the nature of the disease, and their comfort level. Communication is characterized as the third top issue in the cause of sentinel events by the Joint Commission Report 2012. Excellent communication with nurses can reduce medical errors and increase patient outcomes.
Good practices of talking and sharing can improve patients’ comfort and satisfaction, and they will trust the treatment options. Health psychology evaluates the role of communication. There are many theories in nursing communication.
Peplau’s Interpersonal Relations:
The theory discusses the relationship between patient and nurse, the therapeutic process, and its significance. There is a significant factor, the, i.e., environment, that should be understandable to get the idea of culture, practices, and beliefs. This theory elaborates on some stages to arrive at the goal.
- Orientation Phase
- Identification Phase
- Exploitation Phase, and
- Resolution Phase
These stages help achieve patient satisfaction, engage him in treatment, enhance collaboration with nurses, and fully meet the patient’s needs.
Dyadic Interpersonal Communication Theory
It discusses communication and two main elements: the encoder and the decoder. The attitude, perception, content, and emotional aspects influence these. These primary factors are the terms of the message that can alter a patient’s state.
According to this theory, the decoder should have that information when the encoder sends a message. This model highlights the importance of awareness, understanding, and clarity about a patient’s condition. Health psychology describes this condition in a better way.
Habermas Critical Theory
This theory is about the collaborative strategies of nurses and physicians. This allows healthcare individuals to move away from the only necessary information and gather some challenging observations. Such theories are critical because they highlight nurses’ role in patient care and treatment.
Bottom Line
Cultural competencies improve the quality of healthcare. In the past, much work has been done on the role of health psychology, nurse-patient relationships, and different strategies to build a healthy environment. Patient-centeredness and a specific cultural group based on skin color is significant.
The skin color diversity of patients allows nurses to implement various communication strategies and attain good results. Communication has to perform a lot in providing comfort and satisfaction and building patient trust.
It provides different stages, and in light of each step, healthcare department can improve their research and exercise new treatment patterns. More research and a better environment should be provided to enhance the cultural competencies in nursing so that medical errors can be reduced.
