Cultural Heritage Traditions

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Running head: CULTURAL HERITAGE TRADITIONS Cultural Heritage Traditions Michelle Pierson, RN Grand Canyon University Family Centered Health Promotion NRS-429-V Leslie Greenberg August 12, 2012 Cultural Heritage Traditions Heritage and culture plays an important role in a person’s life. It can affect a person’s beliefs, habits, choices, and behaviors (Edelman & Mandel, 2010, p. 17). To provide competent care nurses must be able to understand different cultures, and identify how a person’s heritage can affect their health. The Heritage Assessment tool (HAT) can be used to help healthcare workers understand their patients, thus enabling them to provide culturally competent, holistic care. This paper will compare three different cultures, Mixed American, Hispanic and Jewish-American, and how these cultures affected the patient’s health maintenance, protection and restoration. The Heritage Assessment Tool Retired Professor Rachel E. Spector PhD, RN, CTN-A, FAAN, created the HAT to assist healthcare workers to predict health practices and beliefs of their patients. She has focused her work on developing and teaching culturally competent health care for over 35 years (Spector, 2008). Professor Spector contends that for health care to be appropriate, it must be culturally competent, and it must consider all the facets of a person’s complex needs. Considering a person’s religion, living situation, heritage, culture, beliefs and practices will help nurses to provide effective individualized healthcare for their patients. The HAT utilizes 29 questions that when answered honestly, will assess a person’s identification with their heritage; the more positive responses, the greater one identifies with that heritage (Spector, 2008). By utilizing a tool like this, a nurse can identify risks and provide care for a diverse group of patients.

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