Monday, March 19, 2007

TRANSCULTURAL NURSING

Should we consider the different cultures of people in relation to us nurses offering our services to mankind? Let us see.
Being a nurse means taking full responsibility and giving our all in different circumstances presented to you in life. No matter how hard or how difficult or easy the situation may be, you should accept it and take that choice as a challenge in life. In these different circumstances, we can never avoid that chance wherein we encounter a patient of different lifestyle and culture than that of ours. Even in our country we have different cultures an background. Wouldn’t it be hard when we are engrossed in what we should do and just forget how to adjust to different cultures and try to be sociable at the same time? In these instances we should therefore have in mind that how we treat and present ourselves to different patients of different culture plays a great role in the completion of our service to them.
In here comes transcultural nursing which merely is the situation where we nurses give our services to a patient of a different culture. If I were in a situation like that, it would have my own set of culture and it would be hard since I should be able to know the “what to do’s and what not to do’s” in relation to their cultures. I would really have a hard time adjusting to their set of likes and dislikes. This made me realize that in nursing, not only should you know what to do or how to help the patient, but you should also know how to socialize with your patient in respect to their culture. You have to be able to keep track so that you wouldn’t be able to do something that is accepted in our culture but may offend them in relation to their culture and beliefs. Being careful not only refers to medical terms but in trying to socialize to different cultures too. We should give much consideration to people of different upbringing since we are the nurses and we are the only ones who gives our services with all of our heart. This field is very important that even people give special training classes for the nurses to be able to meet all the needs of the people. This transcultural nursing as defined by an institution that it is a formal area of study and practice focused on comparative human-care differences and similarities of the beliefs, values and morals and patterned lifeways of cultures to provide culturally, congruent, meaningful, and beneficial health care to people. Typically, it is just about trying to go tot the different levels of people in where they are just to be able to meet their needs. It is actually a humanistic and scientific area of formal study and practice in a nursing which is focused upon differences and similarities among cultures with respect to human care, health illness based upon the peoples cultural values, beliefs and practices and to use this knowledge to provide cultural specific or culturally congruent nursing care to patients. Transcultural nursing should not be taken for granted. It is one of the most important components of being able to give what the customer needs and being able to meet what they need the most, our care.
It is so much important for nurses to be flexible in everything they do, especially in dealing with patients. We never will know what background our patients come from, so we should always be mindful or be aware of the different cultures there are and find ways to give proper and effective nursing care. We should ensure that the culture care needs of the people in the world will be met by nurses prepared in transcultural nursing. Cultural competency prepares healthcare professionals for various challenges. While there are times the clients/families expect us to intervene only to a certain limit, others fully rely on us for any medical intervention and decision-making.

70th Charter day

To my fellow Cebuanos, Ladies and Gentlemen, Good Afternoon!

As all of us know, today is the 70th Charter day of Cebu City. Anually, we celebrate this event to acknowledge the importance of how Cebu became a city and the effects that it made. As we commemorate this historical event, let us be reminded of the things that made this day come to being.
Cebu is characterized by narrow coastlines, limestone plateaus and coastal plains. Cebu, before the Spaniards came was known to be Zubu or Zugbo. At that time, Cebu already had trading post and trading routes to China, Siam, Arabia and other parts of Malay.
In 1901, Cebu was then declared a municipality. On June 12, 1898, the Spanish era, by God’s grace, came to an end. They were then followed by the American regime. On the grand day of February 24, 1937, Cebu was declared Cebu City and the capital of the Province of Cebu. The city of Cebu was chartered city by virtue of Commonwealth Act No. 58 enacted by Congress on October 20, 1936. Senator Vicente Raffia, formerly Representative of Cebu’s 3rd District, was considered as author and sponsor of the bill. It was at that time that Secretary of Interior, Elpidio Quirino appointed the mayor and board members of Cebu City in his power as representative of Manuel Quezon.
That historical event experienced by this city made Cebu what it is now. As Cebu City emerged as the capital of Metro Cebu, the city became famous for loads of things, one of which are the cultural places that can be found within the city. Specifically speaking, it was famous for the Magellan’s cross, the image of Santo Niño, and the Basilica Minor del Santo Niño. The city is also known for it’s expertise in furniture as we are the top in the country in exporting furniture to different places around the world.
As years passed, we became the country’s main domestic shipping hub and we became home to more than 80% of the country’s inter-island shipping. Tourism on the other hand contributed much to the local economy and because of which, the city was able to host the ASEAN Tourist Forum and the East Asian Tourism Forum in 2000.
Truly, Cebu city was able to progress for the past years. At present, as we come all together to celebrate our beloved city’s Charter Day, I ask every one of you to come and join me hand in hand in making Cebu City as the most progressive city not just in the Philippines, not just in Asia, but in the whole world.
Let us show to them that we are true blooded Cebuanos and we can make it to the top!

Thank You and Good Day!

My True Identity, My Citizenship

As the years pass, I never thought of stuff that could possibly be important to me. I had my own world and thought only of things I see and feel around me. I was so closed that I actually had my own world and never thought of anything else. I had never been able to explore other forms of things that would mean a lot to me as a person.
Talking about as a person, citizenship came out as not so important to me. But thru this project, it made me realize its importance.
Citizenship to me meant nothing at all before this project. All I could think about related to citizenship was that I just usually see it on application forms anywhere and that I’ll be answering it with “Filipino”. That was simply it!
As I was thinking on what to write about my citizenships importance, my identity as a person came to my mind. I never thought an identity of a person is always at risk. I thought it only happened in movies where your identities are stolen.
My citizenship signifies my identity, who I am and who I’ll always be. It is important to me since my identity means ‘me’ as person and that I own it. I have my own identity and my own citizenship and it represents my personality. It not only signifies my identity but it also shows to the world that I am a Filipino, a true blooded Filipino, not just another ‘want to be’. My citizenship shouts out loud that I am proud to be me, a real Filipino.
These thoughts made me come to realize that my citizenship means a lot and is important to me, not just by papers but as a personality. My citizenship comes with my attitude. For instance, I am in a foreign land and I would act the way I normally do. People would surely recognize me as a Filipino for certain reasons. We are bringing the name of our country and our citizenship.
This project helped me a lot to realize and to know how important my citizenship is. I am and will always be a true Filipino.

My True Identity, My Citizenship

As the years pass, I never thought of stuff that could possibly be important to me. I had my own world and thought only of things I see and feel around me. I was so closed that I actually had my own world and never thought of anything else. I had never been able to explore other forms of things that would mean a lot to me as a person.
Talking about as a person, citizenship came out as not so important to me. But thru this project, it made me realize its importance.
Citizenship to me meant nothing at all before this project. All I could think about related to citizenship was that I just usually see it on application forms anywhere and that I’ll be answering it with “Filipino”. That was simply it!
As I was thinking on what to write about my citizenships importance, my identity as a person came to my mind. I never thought an identity of a person is always at risk. I thought it only happened in movies where your identities are stolen.
My citizenship signifies my identity, who I am and who I’ll always be. It is important to me since my identity means ‘me’ as person and that I own it. I have my own identity and my own citizenship and it represents my personality. It not only signifies my identity but it also shows to the world that I am a Filipino, a true blooded Filipino, not just another ‘want to be’. My citizenship shouts out loud that I am proud to be me, a real Filipino.
These thoughts made me come to realize that my citizenship means a lot and is important to me, not just by papers but as a personality. My citizenship comes with my attitude. For instance, I am in a foreign land and I would act the way I normally do. People would surely recognize me as a Filipino for certain reasons. We are bringing the name of our country and our citizenship.
This project helped me a lot to realize and to know how important my citizenship is. I am and will always be a true Filipino.