Cultural Safety,Healthcare and Vulnerable Populations


Book Description

Culturally safe healthcare is rapidly challenging previous notions of cultural competency or cultural sensitivity in healthcare provision. The increasing number of vulnerable populations means healthcare must be given by a healthcare provider who has developed a social consciousness in relation to his or her own socio-cultural positioning versus that of the patient. A culturally safe practitioner has engaged in an active examination of the power differences existing in this patient-provider relationship. In this book, Lucy Mkandawire-Valhmu critically analyzes the complex issues affecting the health of vulnerable populations. Written from a critical theoretical perspective she seeks to enhance the ability of the healthcare student to develop a social consciousness about the realities faced by many populations living on the margins of society, and thereafter make an active and conscious decision to engage in culturally safe healthcare and contribute to the elimination of health disparities. Through the application of postcolonial feminist theory this book conceptualizes health as being historically situated in social relations of power and emphasizes health interventions that are potentially empowering, and enhance emancipatory change. Through discussions of health provision for ethnic minorities, immigrant populations, and refugees, the book seeks to provide pragmatic guidance for culturally safe care for a variety of marginalized populations and invites students and professionals to think deeply about the implications of power, culture and health.




Clinician's Guide to LGBTQIA+ Care


Book Description

Strive for health equity and surmount institutional oppression when treating marginalized populations with this distinct resource! This unique text provides a framework for delivering culturally safe clinical care to LGBTQIA+ populations filtered through the lens of racial, economic, and reproductive justice. It focuses strongly on the social context in which we live, one where multiple historical processes of oppression continue to manifest as injustices in the health care setting and beyond. Encompassing the shared experiences of a diverse group of expert health care practitioners, this book offers abundant examples, case studies, recommendations, and the most up-to-date guidelines available for treating LGBTQIA+ patient populations. Rich in clinical scenarios that describe best practices for safely treating patients, this text features varied healthcare frameworks encompassing patient-centered and community-centered care that considers the intersecting and ongoing processes of oppression that impact LGBTQIA+ people every day--particularly people of color. This text helps health providers incorporate safe and culturally appropriate language into their care, understand the roots and impact of stigma, address issues of health disparities, and recognize and avoid racial or LGBTQIA+ microaggressions. Specific approaches to care include chapters on sexual health care, perinatal care, and information about pregnancy and postpartum care for transgender and gender-expansive people. Key Features: Emphasizes patient-centered care incorporating an understanding of patient histories, safety needs, and power imbalances Provides tools for clinician self-reflection to understand and alleviate implicit bias Fosters culturally safe language and communication skills Presents abundant patient scenarios including specific dos and don'ts in patient treatment Includes concrete objectives, conclusions, terminology, and references in each chapter and discussion questions to promote critical thought Offers charts and information boxes to illuminate key information




Delivering Culturally Competent Nursing Care


Book Description

Newly revised and updated, Delivering Culturally Competent Nursing Care, Second Edition, explores the cross-cultural interactions and conflicts between nurses and the diverse array of patients they may see. Culturally competent nurses can cut through preconceptions, reduce health disparities, and deliver high-quality care as they encounter patients from a range of backgrounds and beliefs. As frontline providers for diverse populations, nurses are expected to treat each patient with empathy and respect. This text addresses what it really means to be culturally competent in nursing practice. As representatives of specific cultural, racial, ethnic, and sociopolitical groups, nurses bring their own values, beliefs, and attitudes to all interactions with patients and with one another. Whether or not nurses choose to make their attitudes explicit, these attitudes ultimately influence the quality of care they provide to patients. The content of this book is grounded in the Staircase Model, which builds upon the nurse’s own self-assessment to identify personal limitations, find strategies to improve cultural competence, and progress to the next level. This text features case scenarios that apply the process of cultural competence to different healthcare situations. What’s New Three New Chapters Chapter 12: Caring for Patients Who Are Morbidly Obese Chapter 13: Caring for Veterans Chapter 14: Caring for Children Expanded content on caring for LGBTQIA community PowerPoint slides provided for instructors Key Features Addresses AACN competencies Provides easy-to-follow self-assessment using the Staircase Model Learning Objectives and Key Terms are identified in each chapter Overview of each chapter provides current information about trends in the United States on the topic under discussion Provides an excellent cultural competency preparation for student nurses in clinical situations as well as for practicing nurses at all levels and areas of nursing Presents content on immigration and transgender individuals




Health and Incarceration


Book Description

Over the past four decades, the rate of incarceration in the United States has skyrocketed to unprecedented heights, both historically and in comparison to that of other developed nations. At far higher rates than the general population, those in or entering U.S. jails and prisons are prone to many health problems. This is a problem not just for them, but also for the communities from which they come and to which, in nearly all cases, they will return. Health and Incarceration is the summary of a workshop jointly sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences(NAS) Committee on Law and Justice and the Institute of Medicine(IOM) Board on Health and Select Populations in December 2012. Academics, practitioners, state officials, and nongovernmental organization representatives from the fields of healthcare, prisoner advocacy, and corrections reviewed what is known about these health issues and what appear to be the best opportunities to improve healthcare for those who are now or will be incarcerated. The workshop was designed as a roundtable with brief presentations from 16 experts and time for group discussion. Health and Incarceration reviews what is known about the health of incarcerated individuals, the healthcare they receive, and effects of incarceration on public health. This report identifies opportunities to improve healthcare for these populations and provides a platform for visions of how the world of incarceration health can be a better place.




Communities in Action


Book Description

In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.




Caring for the Vulnerable: Perspectives in Nursing Theory, Practice, and Research


Book Description

Organized into seven units - concepts, nursing theories, research, practice, programs, teaching-learning and policy - this text offers a broad focus on vulnerability and vulnerable populations in addition to extending nurses' thinking on the theoretical formulations that guide practice. It is a timely and necessary response to the culturally diverse vulnerable populations for whom nurses must provide appropriate and precise care.




Keeping Patients Safe


Book Description

Building on the revolutionary Institute of Medicine reports To Err is Human and Crossing the Quality Chasm, Keeping Patients Safe lays out guidelines for improving patient safety by changing nurses' working conditions and demands. Licensed nurses and unlicensed nursing assistants are critical participants in our national effort to protect patients from health care errors. The nature of the activities nurses typically perform â€" monitoring patients, educating home caretakers, performing treatments, and rescuing patients who are in crisis â€" provides an indispensable resource in detecting and remedying error-producing defects in the U.S. health care system. During the past two decades, substantial changes have been made in the organization and delivery of health care â€" and consequently in the job description and work environment of nurses. As patients are increasingly cared for as outpatients, nurses in hospitals and nursing homes deal with greater severity of illness. Problems in management practices, employee deployment, work and workspace design, and the basic safety culture of health care organizations place patients at further risk. This newest edition in the groundbreaking Institute of Medicine Quality Chasm series discusses the key aspects of the work environment for nurses and reviews the potential improvements in working conditions that are likely to have an impact on patient safety.




Social Science Research Ethics in Africa


Book Description

This book gives a voice to debates surrounding social science research ethics in Africa and brings them together in a coherent form to assist readers in being at the forefront of the discussions. The book gives an overview of the importance of research ethics in social sciences, as well as articulating the African influence on the subject matter. Subsequently it looks into specific frameworks and tools that researchers can apply in the process of doing research. Last but not least it also takes an in-depth look at traditional ethical issues pertaining to research in social sciences, through the lens of the African continent. This is the first book on social science research ethics in an African context and an indispensable resource for researchers, students, policy makers and research institutions in or interested in African research ethics.




Improving Healthcare Quality in Europe Characteristics, Effectiveness and Implementation of Different Strategies


Book Description

This volume, developed by the Observatory together with OECD, provides an overall conceptual framework for understanding and applying strategies aimed at improving quality of care. Crucially, it summarizes available evidence on different quality strategies and provides recommendations for their implementation. This book is intended to help policy-makers to understand concepts of quality and to support them to evaluate single strategies and combinations of strategies.