The Purnell Model for Cultural Competence

Sample Answer

Nurses have a professional mandate to provide timely and comprehensive patient care. Providing such care requires nurses to understand health multi-dimensionally, including factors influencing positive outcomes and barriers. As healthcare delivery evolves, culture continues to be a significant factor since it affects communication and patient-provider relationships. As a result, nurses must be culturally competent to succeed in their roles. The purpose of this discussion is to describe the Purnell model for cultural competence and the importance of effective communication that promotes cultural competence.

The Purnell Model and Its Relevance

The Purnell model is founded on the principle that cultural consciousness is critical for delivering high patient outcomes. Purnell (2019) described the model as a circle with various rims. The outer rim is the global society, followed by the community, family, and person in that order. The interior circle outlines the 12 domains with concepts that should guide healthcare practitioners to address patients’ needs based on the setting and presenting symptoms. These domains include communication, family roles, high-risk behaviors, and workforce issues (Purnell, 2019).

Others relevant in today’s nursing practice include biocultural ecology, inhabited localities, death rituals, nutrition, and spirituality. The rest include pregnancy and childbearing practices, healthcare practices, and healthcare providers. The model assumes that cultures share core similarities and different individuals and families belong to different subcultures. Culture also influences an individual’s interpretation of healthcare significantly and changes slowly over time.

The Purnell model is relevant for the advanced practice nurse due to the continued emphasis on culturally competent care. Nair and Adetayo (2019) described cultural competence as healthcare providers’ ability to communicate and collaborate with individuals from different cultures. Such competence improves healthcare experiences and alleviates healthcare disparities. The Purnell model enables nurses to achieve these outcomes by outlining the major explicit assumptions and domains vital in promoting culturally competent care. Achieving such care denotes excellence in one’s role as an advanced practice nurse.

Effective Communication that Promotes Cultural Competence

Nurses must assess patient issues in-depth to provide comprehensive care. Accordingly, clear patient-provider communication free from bias and other barriers is vital at all care delivery levels. Effective communication that promotes cultural competence alleviates barriers to care and fosters a healthy relationship between patients and healthcare providers. It is characterized by an in-depth awareness of one’s culture, open and sensitive communication, and effectively collaborating with the patient and family to optimize patient care (Brooks et al., 2019).

Besides, culturally sensitive communication helps nurses to understand the needs of diverse people and ensure their cultural biases do not affect their interpretation of situations and patient needs.

Patient outcomes vary with nursing interventions and how patients and healthcare providers interact in various settings. To optimize patient outcomes, nurses should understand the influence of culture on health and the importance of culturally sensitive communication. The Purnell model stresses that culture influences how individuals interpret and respond to healthcare experiences.

Since individuals belong to different cultures that affect their perceptions, values, and decision-making, advanced practice nurses must consider culture when dealing with diverse patients. Always, they should be determined to deliver culturally competent care for higher patient outcomes and healthy patient-provider relationships.

References

• Brooks, L. A., Manias, E., & Bloomer, M. J. (2019). Culturally sensitive communication in healthcare a concept analysis. Collegian, 26(3), 383-391. https //doi.org/10.1016/j.colegn.2018.09.007
• Nair, L., & Adetayo, O. A. (2019). Cultural competence and ethnic diversity in healthcare. Plastic and reconstructive Surgery. Global Open, 7(5), e2219. https //doi.org/10.1097/GOX.0000000000002219
• Purnell, L. (2019). Update The Purnell theory and model for culturally competent health care. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 30(2), 98-105. https //doi.org/10.1177/1043659618817587