Denmark Culture Website | aryahoduportfolio

Nursing 401 – Cultural Exploration Project

Purpose of Assignment

The purpose of this assignment is to develop in the learner an awareness of the health beliefs/practices of a culture different from their own.

Approach to Assignment

When approaching this assignment, I began by deciding which country I was most interested in learning more about. My mother has several friends in Denmark and my father, who works for Canon Inc. as an engineer, was offered a transfer to Denmark when I was just a little girl. As a family we did a lot of research about Denmark and decided that, while it sounded like a wonderful place, we wanted to stay in America with our family. I chose Denmark for this assignment to get a better idea of what my nursing career might have been like if we had indeed chosen to move there during my childhood.

Reason for Inclusion

I included this paper in my portfolio because it reflects how my cultural sensitivity has grown throughout the nursing program. It shows that I am open to learning about and discussing all different kinds of cultural practices and norms. It allows others to understand that I am able to approach my nursing career with an open mind and without biases. It also shows my computer skills and my ability to build and manage a working website.

Curricular Outcomes

Nursing Practice

Implements traditional nursing care practices as appropriate to provide holistic health care to diverse populations across the lifespan.

This project involves creating an entire website about one particular country. In addition, we had to review and read each other’s websites so that we could get a good grasp on the health care norms of several different countries. Since completing this project, I am now able to provide more holistic and culturally appropriate care to my patients from all over the world. For example, I just recently took care of a patient from India and, because I had read a classmate’s website about India, I knew that she was being very quiet because she trusted her husband to make her healthcare decision for her and, therefore, I respected these wishes and advocated this to her doctors.

Demonstrates an awareness of complementary modalities and their usefulness in promoting health.

A complementary modality is a treatment technique that encourages healing through wellness of the mind, body and spirit. For example, I explain in this project that Danish people think that eating dogs and cats is a health necessity and, even though this is not a norm in America, I respect that this is a modality that promotes health in Denmark. I also discuss how the Danish believe that social interaction, such as dinner parties, are a vital component of a whole and healthy life.

Communication

Expresses oneself and communicates effectively with diverse groups and disciplines using a variety of media in a variety of contexts.

I use a website forum for this project and, in doing so, prove that I am able to communicate my thoughts and research effectively with a diverse group of people over the internet. I express myself through a variety of media including pictures, graphs, charts and standard paragraphs.

Produces clear, accurate and relevant writing using correct grammar, spelling and punctuation.

I received an A on this website in Nursing 401. I received full credit for the grammar, spelling and punctuation portion of the rubric and was able to effectively communicate my thoughts through my writing to my ODU professor.

Accesses and utilizes data and information from a wide range of sources to enhance patient and professional communication.

I completed a great deal of research for this project. My website includes a reference page with fourteen peer-reviewed, scholarly and research based references. I used these references found both online and in ODU’s library to enhance my communication and points about the various aspects of Denmark to my professional colleagues.

Teaching

Provides relevant and sensitive health education information and counseling to patients and families in a variety of situations and settings.

This project serves as an educational tool for educating the community as a whole about the health and aspects of Denmark. I am able to use this project as a tool to educate the community about the dangers of smoking and drinking alcohol at a young age, which is the social norm in Denmark. I also use this website to educate the public about the different types of healthcare in Denmark and how their health statistics compare to those in the U.S.

Uses information technologies and other appropriate methods to communicate health promotion, risk reduction and disease prevention across the life span.

I use the information technology of a website to communicate health promotion in Denmark in this project. I discuss the risk of smoking and drinking alcohol at a young age. I also discuss the prevalence of cancer in Denmark and various ways to prevent the disease across the life span. In addition, I discuss a research article about the promotion of the use of antimalarial medications in Ghana to prevent the spread of Malaria.

Uses information technologies and other appropriate methods to enhance one’s own knowledge base.

To complete this project I used the internet and ODU’s library to gather research and enhance my own knowledge base of both Denmark and Malaria in Ghana. I also spoke with several family friends who live in Denmark through social media to gather information for the project.

Research

Applies research-based knowledge from nursing as the basis for culturally sensitive practice.

This entire project is research-based and its purpose is to educate nurses about the cultural and social norms of different societies in order to provide culturally sensitive care to all patients. Thanks to this assignment, I am now able to provide culturally competent care to people from all different backgrounds. For example, I recently did care for a Danish woman who had a heart attack while on a vacation to Williamsburg. Her family wanted to bring in flowers, seeing as flowers are a huge part of holistic care in Denmark. It is typically against policy to bring in flowers. However, seeing as this was a part of her culture, our administrators let me make an exception.

Applies research-based knowledge from the arts, humanities and sciences to compliment nursing practice.

The research that I compiled for this project includes articles from scientific based studies, artistic studies and humanity based studies. There is an entire article about the language, culture and art of Denmark. There are several articles about the scientific data regarding healthcare in Denmark and Malaria in Ghana.

Shares research findings with colleagues.

I share my finding with my colleagues by posting the completed website onto the internet as well as posting the link onto blackboard for my classmates to see. It will remain on the internet for the general public as well.

Culture

Articulates an understanding of how human behavior is affected by culture, race, religion, gender, lifestyle and age.

This project allows me to express my understanding of how patient’s may act and wish to be treated differently based on their culture, race, religion, gender, lifestyle and age. For example, young children in Denmark expect to be treated as adults. They have many more responsibilities in life at a much younger age. Additionally, the people of Ghana do not believe in vaccinations because they believe a medicine man is the safer choice. As nurses we must place ourselves in the hearts of others to understand why they behave the way they do.

Demonstrates sensitivity to personal and cultural definitions of health and how these beliefs influence an individual’s reactions to the illness experience and end of life.

Prior to writing this project, I acknowledged my own biases and stereotypes so that I could go into this assignment with an open mind. I personally believe that I am a very culturally sensitive person and that this trait is evident in my nursing care. This is particularly important at the end of life. By reading my classmate’s websites I was able to learn about the end of life wishes of cultures from all around the world and am not able to integrate this knowledge into my care.

Integrates knowledge of cultural diversity in performing nursing interventions.

This project allowed me to read different websites made by my classmates about all different countries and cultures. With this knowledge, I am now able to adjust my nursing interventions accordingly. For example, we have several Indian patient’s and, thanks to a classmate’s site, I always remember to order them a “no beef” diet.

Considers the impact of research outcomes and the effects of health and social policies on persons from diverse backgrounds.

In the last section of this project, I discuss the research outcomes of antimalarial medication compliance on the health status of the people of Ghana. I discuss that, while many research studies have proven the outcome of these vaccinations to be positive, many people in Ghana still do not believe that they will be beneficial to their health. Health policies in Ghana state that one must come to the central town clinic for vaccination and this causes a low compliance rate.

Maintains an awareness of global environmental factors that may influence the delivery of health care services.

In referring to the antimalarial vaccinations in Ghana, I state that I am aware that money, time, knowledge, weather changes and transportation methods are all factors that prevent the delivery of this health care service. These factors play a huge role in the low compliance rate with antimalarial medication in Ghana.