Why is cultural competence important?

This week’s discussion relates to the topic of Culture and Community Health. After completing your assigned readings,  and viewing the video below, Forgotten Ellis Island, answer the following questions according to the online discussion guidelines/instructions and rubric from the syllabus.

Click on the link below for video. If you cannot access, go to YouTube and look for the video. It is 55 minutes.

Forgotten Ellis Island (Links to an external site.)

1)  Why is cultural competence important? What characteristics would a culturally competent nurse possess?Describe a situation in which you demonstrated culturally competent care with a patient/patient’s family or alternatively, describe a situation in which you did not provide culturally competent care and what could have been done to improve that interaction.

2) How does the video, Forgotten Ellis Island, relate to concepts of:

1. Cultural influences in community and public health
2. Health implications of immigration/immigration healthcare issues
3. Epidemiology, an important concept of public health
4. Transcultural considerations and cultural competence

3) After watching the video, draw some comparisons to the present day COVID-19 pandemic. Discuss what public health officials were/are trying to accomplish in each scenario and discuss how the people responded to each situation.  Include some statistics from the video and from present day, make sure to cite source.

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