Kontakt 2007, 9(2):230-239 | DOI: 10.32725/kont.2007.036

Trans-cultural nursing evaluation according to model by Gigerov and DavidhizarNursing

Gabriela Sedláková^1,2,*, Jaroslava Soukupová²

¹ Jihočeská univerzita v Českých Budějovicích, Zdravotně sociální fakulta, katedra ošetřovatelství

² SZŠ a VOŠ zdravotnická Příbram

Due to the globalization, we live in the world having ever "diminishing borders", which, apart from other things, also means life in the evermore multicultural society. The modern concept of the nursing care also reacts to this fact, where a nurse must be thoroughly ready for the solution of specific problems of different communities in the health and disease. The result should be the culturally appropriate care respecting cultural specific features and aimed at the well being of healthy as well as diseased persons.
The word foreigner has the same stem as the word "foreign", but this does not mean that people coming from elsewhere should remain unrecognized and quite alienated. In contrast, these are just the people who need understanding and possible help, particularly if they fall into health problems and become subjects of taking care by health personnel (Adamczyk, 2002).
The health care should be provided for anybody who is in need of it in our country, i.e. also for all the foreigners. The technical availability and velocity of the transportation, economical factors, tourism, associations between relatives and further effects lead to the fact that the migration, transit as well as short-term stays of citizens of foreign nationalities and cultures are evermore frequent and also more diverse as to the national, technical or cultural structure.
The quality of the nursing care is based on satisfying individual needs of patients/clients, which calls for nursing personnel having appropriate knowledge and skill. The nurses should be able to assess the topical condition and reactions of the patient/client to unsatisfied needs, including those associated with different culture, and to continuously provide individual care in accordance with this. However, experience from the practice demonstrated that this is just the field of human needs (in patients with different culture), where the nurses lack the necessary knowledge and education (Ivanová, 2005, p. 14).

Keywords: Globalisation and migration; trans-cultural nursing; nursing model by Giger and Davidhizar; Vietnamese patient, client; nursing standard

Received: October 8, 2007; Accepted: November 1, 2007; Published: December 21, 2007  Show citation