Heritage Assessment Essay

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Heritage Assessment The definition of heritage is something inherited at birth, such as personal characteristics, status, possessions, and anything that has been transmitted form the past or handed down by tradition ("heritage," 2009). The usefulness of The Heritage Assessment Tool is that it incorporates the above definition into a twenty nine question assessment which aids the interviewer in evaluating how much a person’s heritage influences their day to day life, such as their medicinal remedies, food, clothing, religious practices and their support system. It is important for a nurse to know their own cultural background as well as their patient’s background with this knowledge the healthcare provider will be able to make accurate, intelligent and informed decisions on a patients care and how to better meet their needs and by knowing one’s own background a nurse can separate their own beliefs or possible bias which will ultimately lead to better overall care of the patient. In health care a person’s heritage, culture and religious background plays a big part of their overall health, wellness and recovery. If a healthcare worker understands the dimensions of a patient’s cultural background they will be able to develop a better plan of care for their patient. With in this paper the writer will discuss the results of the heritage assessment of three culturally different families. Family 1 This family will be the interview done of the writer’s family. The writer and spouses family is very similar in traditions and family health matters. The writer is from Michigan and parents were from Michigan. The paternal grandparents were from Poland and the maternal grandparents were from Ireland. Most of the traditions that were passed down from the parents were from the paternal side due to the fact that the maternal

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