What is a mind map?

Cultural safety is significant in the provision of health care services. Every service provided in the health centre must be geared towards the safety of the patient. The caregivers must work within the confines of their professional code of conduct as well as professional boundaries to ensure that they don’t infringe on the safety of the patient as they meet their health and wellbeing needs. Letourneau, Cara and Goudreau (2017) define cultural safety as the effectiveness of a caregiver to offer services to a patient from another culture without being insensitive to such a culture. The environment within the health care centre should be such that it can promote the faster healing of the patient. This write up will look into my values, beliefs and behaviours and how they support a culturally sensitive workplace environment, how they have developed over time and any gaps that may require further development.

Schmidt and Mcarthur (2018) define values as a personal liking that is acquired, organised into systems and after that determine attitudes and behaviours of the person. These values significantly affect their performance in any working environment. While growing up, I have acquired some values. Both from home as well as when interacting with my peers.

Service to others in the medical profession is a service-based type of profession. Motivated by God’s service to humanity, I have no option but to offers the best services. Patients are but human beings who are in need of help. Very severe forms of illness require an exceptional level of service. I have at times offered more service especially on a severe case and had little time left to attend to the other patients.

Kindness in the working environment within health centres is one faced with a myriad of challenges. The patient may be in deep pain, and only a kind caregiver may be able to attend to their needs (Eritz et al., 2016). During my young years, there lived some families in our neighbourhood which were dysfunctional. Access to food by such families was a big challenge. I would be moved by their suffering. Since we had enough land on which we tilled and produced much food, I would request my parents to show kindness to such children. This has helped me in having an easy time as I practice my profession.

Values

Responsibility in a health set up requires great responsibility. Health institutions deal with human life. Any mistake may lead to the loss of lives (Azmat & Rentschler, 2017). I have therefore had to work responsibly. During my high school years, I went to a boarding school. Being away from home, I had to be in charge of what I did. Once a patient has come to me for treatment, the patient, as well as the family members, trust that I will deliver. Therefore, every day demands me to be responsible for health outcomes resulting from my actions.

Optimism as a value. Sometimes health provision has attracted negative criticism from members of the society. Some health institutions have been labelled as offering preferential treatment while others do not care so much about the services that they provide. Though this might be the current scenario, I am optimistic that things will change as change is the only constant. With better policies in place and stakeholders involvement, things can only become better (Hignett et al., 2018).     

People are catalysts for success and not barriers – Health provision is not a one-person business. Therefore, a team effort is critical. As people work together, some may be bound to make errors, do the wrong things. At times this can be deliberate in their attempts to frustrate my career. I have learnt to live with all kinds of people especially during my college days. I will endeavour at inculcating a culture of self- awareness among my colleagues and demonstrate to them that our differences can be harnessed into a strength.

My skills can be improved and refined- Life is a school in itself. As I interact with patients, I will endeavour to sharpen my skills. Mc Loughlin, Hadgraft, Atkinson and Marley (2014) observe that organisational interaction with senior peers will improve the performance of new employees. This is possible as I will be in the company of senior colleagues. My love for medical books will close in on any gaps that I may be having.

Hard work and perseverance are rewarded- the medical profession can be a demanding one. Mcdonald, Jackson, Vickers and Wilkes (2016) contend that for some patients require long hours of attention and may not have family members around them, the caregivers may be their only hope. My passion for seeing positive results as a result of my efforts has at times driven me to work extremely hard and for long hours. My colleagues have mocked me and labelled me as a workaholic saying that my much efforts do not give me any monetary returns. My joy is when I see a patient improve their health condition. This is what I always strive to see.

Beliefs

Tomorrow can always be better- this is the single most reason that patients seek health care. So that their tomorrow can be better, Granado-Gamez, Lopez Rodriguez, Corral Granados and Marquez-Hernandez (2017) notes that there is a need for a good relationship between the caregiver and the patient. Working with patients have confirmed this to me. Though there may be challenges in the line of duty, there are always options available to me. A patient who is struggling with a particular ailment will still be better when diagnosed and given the proper medication. I believe that the wellbeing of a patient tomorrow rests on my efforts today.

I am considerate. The health profession has caregivers from different backgrounds. The same for the patients seeking medical care. The perceptions of all these people may be different. Edvardsson, Watt and Pearce (2017) note that whatever services are offered, the safety of the patient is guaranteed. Therefore, as much as my colleagues may have biases towards certain patients, I always try to be kind to them. Other patients have seen me extend this behavior to many other patients of different cultures and they felt offended. My explanation is that I have to consider all patients as they have a dignity that needs to be protected.

I am caring. There is nothing as exciting when a patient is handled with care and love with all the tenderness (Wiechula et al., 2016).  When growing up, my parents cared for me passionately that at this moment and time, I can be able to draw from those deposits. As the name suggests, caregiving should be accompanied by love. This improves on the healing process of the patient.

Cautious- any error in caregiving can become catastrophic. According to Butcher, Bulechek, Dochterman and Wagner (2018), the success of the caregiving process depends on how cautious the caregiver is. The same cautiousness should be extended to the patients. In the spirit of “hurry has no blessings”, I have chosen to be rather slow but sure. Though at times I deliver my services late, am always convinced that they are the right services. Sometimes the patients joke with me and say that the patient may succumb before I have delivered the service. For examples when giving of medicines, the dosage is critical. If it exceeded, the reactions could be counterproductive.

Pragmatic refers to the handling of things sensibly and realistically in such a manner that our actions are driven by practicality rather than how the theory dictates. In a health facility, there is a tendency to be visited by all kinds of patients. The standard practice would be to treat the ones who arrive earlier. However, patient’s needs may be different with some requiring urgent attention (Putnam, 2017).With my public relations which I have furnished over time, I will quickly talk to a patient and show the need to attend to the urgent needs. While the patient is waiting for me to return to him or her, I will have told them to be reflecting on the goodness of the Lord in the meantime. This will enable them to appreciate their healing process.

Behaviours

Conclusion

Better health care determines an individual’s health and wellbeing. Such care must be delivered in an environment that focusses on the safety of the patient. Since my contributions to the broader context that influence the patient’s wellbeing are far and wide-reaching, I must be conscious of my values, beliefs and behaviours. I should endeavour to ensure that my values, beliefs and behaviours are supportive of the patient’s health recovery process. They should speed up the process.

References

Azmat, F., & Rentschler, R. (2017). Gender and ethnic diversity on boards and corporate responsibility: The case of the arts sector. Journal of business ethics, 141(2), 317-336.

Butcher, H. K., Bulechek, G. M., Dochterman, J. M. M., & Wagner, C. (2018). Nursing Interventions classification (NIC)-E-Book. Elsevier Health Sciences.

Edvardsson, D., Watt, E., & Pearce, F. (2017). Patient experiences of caring and person?centredness are associated with perceived nursing care quality. Journal of advanced nursing, 73(1), 217-227.

Eritz, H., Hadjistavropoulos, T., Williams, J., Kroeker, K., Martin, R. R., Lix, L. M., & Hunter, P. V. (2016). A life history intervention for individuals with dementia: a randomised controlled trial examining nursing staff empathy, perceived patient personhood and aggressive behaviours. Ageing & Society, 36(10), 2061-2089.

Granados?Gámez, G., Lopez Rodriguez, M. D. M., Corral Granados, A., & Márquez?Hernández, V. V. (2017). Attitudes and beliefs of nursing students toward mental disorder: the significance of direct experience with patients. Perspectives in psychiatric care, 53(2), 135-143.

Hignett, S., Lang, A., Pickup, L., Ives, C., Fray, M., McKeown, C., … & Bowie, P. (2018). More holes than cheese. What prevents the delivery of effective, high quality and safe health care in England?. Ergonomics, 61(1), 5-14.

Létourneau, D., Cara, C., & Goudreau, J. (2017). Humanizing Nursing Care: An Analysis of Caring Theories Through the Lens of Humanism. International Journal for Human Caring, 21(1), 32-40.

Mc Loughlin, F., Hadgraft, N. T., Atkinson, D., & Marley, J. V. (2014). Aboriginal health research in the remote Kimberley: an exploration of perceptions, attitudes and concerns of stakeholders. BMC health services research, 14(1), 517.

Putnam, H. (2017). Pragmatism as a Way of Life: The Lasting Legacy of William James and John Dewey. Harvard University Press.

Schmidt, B. J., & Mcarthur, E. C. (2018, January). Professional nursing values: A concept analysis. In Nursing forum (Vol. 53, No. 1, pp. 69-75).

Wiechula, R., Conroy, T., Kitson, A. L., Marshall, R. J., Whitaker, N., & Rasmussen, P. (2016). Umbrella review of the evidence: what factors influence the caring relationship between a nurse and patient?. Journal of advanced nursing, 72(4), 723-734.