Self-Assessment: Understanding and Appreciating Culture (Essay Sample)

Self-Reflection
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Institution:
Self Reflection
Self-assessment is a common practice of determining individual performance. Students conduct this process in order to determine the impacts of various educational activities to their progress. In this report, I have presented my self-reflection after the undertaking the CLCHPA self-assessment. In the report, I have included a detailed coverage of how the self-assessment practice impacted on my knowledge as an aspiring medical practitioner.
Understanding and Appreciating Culture
During the self-assessment process, I realized that nurses and practitioners must be aware of the cultures and lifestyles of their clients. In other words, nurses must keep learning and appreciating the lifestyle choices of the people within their ambit. This assessment taught me that culture involves more than the race, geographical origin and location status of the person (Leddy, 2006). It is more of the behavioral and habitual choices that that certain people adopt. As a result, I started appreciating that nurses cannot use stereotypical labels associated with races to profile a patient (Gauwitz, 2007). One must take deliberate steps to research the behavioral patterns of the client. For example, learning the smoking/drinking patterns, lifestyle choices, physical activities, et cetera are important indicators of the culture of the client.
Communication in a Diverse Community
Secondly, this exercise emphasized on the need for practitioners to possess strong communication skills. Particularly, it reminded me of the mobility that the world has experienced in the recent past and the fact that it is no longer possible to have people of a certain race or language located at a singular place. As such, medical practitioners must strive to use communication methods that reflect the diversity and social mobility status (Nies, 2011). For example, one of the questions in the second test tested the frequency at which I address the cross-cultural communication. This question reminded of the fact that I must always consider the effectiveness of the interactions that I will have with my patients.
Community Health
Furthermore, the test helped me to appraise and appreciate community health. It reminded me of the fact that a major role of medical practitioners is to promote community health. I learnt earlier that community health entails keeping in touch with the social and cultural factors that might affect the health of a certain population. Undertaking this assessment reminded me of the fact that I must keep abreast with all the issues happening in the community. As a trained medical practitioner, I must determine the ways in which such factors might affect the health of the population (Stein, 2011). For example, it is crucial for medical practitioner to assess the impact of the housing and sanitation status of a neighborhood to the health conditions of the residents. To a great extent, this assessment will help policy makers to take the necessary measures (Wilson and Giddens, 2009).
Conclusion