Cultural Pluralism or Diversity, Article Review Example

The Intention of Nursing By John Lowe and Cynthia Archibald

Description/Summary of article

The authors introduced their ideas by saying that United States’ cultural paradigms developed over centuries even before it adapted the name United States of America. However, the twenty-first century America consists of diverse cultural components from immigrants across the world forcing the American Nurses’ Association to issue its first intention regarding strengthening cultural diversity programs in the profession (Lowe & Archibald, 2009).

Importantly, the authors advanced that cultural diversity within health care is a very complex phenomenon, which cannot be addressed through deliberations at one conference. Precisely, it is in itself a career journey as the American society continues to admit people from all over the world into its territories.  For the American nurse undoubtedly it poses immense frustrations in a health care community with such an expanse of cultural diversity. Hence, a desire for the nurses’ association to extend itself beyond rhetoric of intention has been propelled (Lowe & Archibald, 2009).

These immense changes in the American social structure Lowe and Archibald (2009) contend, daily challenge the American nurse to incorporate diverse needs of their clients into quality nursing care amidst shortages of adequate qualified staff to satisfy these revolving demands. In concluding quoting Cool (2003) the author confirmed that research findings indicate that without  giving attention to diversity,  delivery of quality healthcare will  greatly diminish with increasing health disparities (Lowe & Archibald, 2009).                                         .

Intentionally, removing health disparities is one of two primary goals established by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Healthy People 2010. Significantly, these goals are aligned to principle that every community member across America irrespective of   ‘age, gender, race or ethnicity, income, education, geographical location, disability, or sexual orientation deserves equal access to comprehensive, culturally competent, community-based health care’ (Lowe & Archibald, 2009, p 12).

Personal opinion

The necessity of understanding cultural diversity within the America society cannot be overemphasized. It is the pathway to developing cultural competence as a twenty first century advanced level nurse. Of what use is nursing education when it cannot be applied across cultures? In the same way health promotion/education ventures fail even before moving off the documentary stages if no attention is given to the cultural diversity of targeted populations. Cultural pluralism/diversity is becoming even more complex since acculturation is on the rise.

It is no longer relating to distinct cultures within given communities, but a multiplicity of cultures in the same community. As such, at a hospital in the Queens New York or Florida a nurse will meet with an expanse of cultures ranging from Afro-Caribbean, Indo-Caribbean, Cuban- Hispanic; Mexican-Hispanic, American-Caribbean; Hispanic-Caribbean as well as Latin-American and American, which is not purely American. Definitely, the nurse functioning in this environment may have to be bilingual, trilingual and more to deliver effective care. Therefore, in American Nurses Association intentionally taking a stand on this issue is a move towards improving health care particularly in these two highlighted states within the country.

Relationship to class concepts

In class we learn how cultural pluralism is actually related to when smaller groups within the society maintain their unique culture within the wider society. While this might be true since America is a developed nation many people from developing or underdeveloped nations adapt the culture of the developed country sometimes relinquishing their own. However, the situation in America today is one in which even Americans are adapting pieces of culture from immigrants which may some emerge into a new American culture paradigm

Reference

Lowe, J., & Archibald, C. (2009). Cultural Diversity: The Intention of Nursing. Nursing Forum. 44(1); 12-30