Ashley Taylor

Cultural Anthropology

Chapter 1: Language

Emergency department registered nurses come from different countries, cultures and

ethnicities. In my observations I found nurses that spoke English Spanish, French Creole, Chinese and

Amharic. Although they have a wide variety of countries of origin, they all speak English, it is a job

requirement, and medical jargon. Jargon is defined as “Language or terminology peculiar to a specific

field, profession, or group” (https://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/jargon).

Medical jargon comes from medical terminology which is mostly based on Latin and Greek

terms. Pneumo comes from the Greek root meaning air. When you combine pneumo with thorax,

which comes from the Greek root meaning chest cavity, the medical terminology is now pneumothorax

meaning air in the pleural space of the chest.

Some medical terms come from the name of the person who invented the procedure, and piece

of equipment of discovered the disease. It is called an eponym. I heard one of the emergency room

nurses say their patient needed a “Foley”. The Foley catheter was invented by Frederic Foley, a

physician who specialized in urology.

There are also words that comes from terms that are shortened or changed and catch on with

time. I was taken on a tour of the “hazmat shower”. Hazmat has been shortened from hazardous

materials. The shortened word means the patient has been exposed to some hazardous material and

now has to be decontaminated (removing contaminated clothing and showering to removed hazardous

materials).

There are also many phrases that are shortened, which are called acronyms. A term that use in

the emergency room frequently is PSA which stands for patient safety attendant. Other acronyms I

heard from the nurses were GSW (gunshot wound), FTE (full time employee), T2 (trauma two), and OD
(overdose). I had to ask because I did not know what the terms meant but these are terms that are

commonly used by the nurses.

Chapter 2: Human Rights

Every nurse to come to a similar point of view when it comes to human rights

agreements and the legislation. It is slowing expanding importance to people needing nursing

care and to nursing staff to achieve better outcomes for everyone.

They strongly support the ideals and principles placed in the Universal Declaration of

Human Rights which is the primary statement of worldly agreed human rights. It should be a

common standard of success for all people and nations.

Human rights and protection are vital. Everyone supports the position of its worldly

globally nursing body. The human rights approach is essential, both in health and policies and

services that mean nurses need to actively attend to people’s right every moment of every day.

Nurses own a duty of care to their patients and need to pay full responsibility to their

actions in protecting the patients “human rights.” Though, nurses’ own rights are significant.

They should be able to carry out their job in a safe working environment without any ridicule or

violence. Nurses are duty holders in the eyes of law and rights holders according to the rights

within the hospital.

As a national nursing body, they support the constant flow of a human-rights based

approach to health care. The nurses uphold to taking this approach in their own work by

altering nursing and the health policy; by developing communicating and practice standards to

make it better.
 Chapter 3: Race, Racism, Ethnicity & Nationalism

More than one-third of the United States population reported that they belonged to a racial or

ethnic minority group in the 2010 US Census. Nurses can see the inequality of patient care at times due

to many factors. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Office of Minority Health and

Health Equity find that racial and ethnic populations suffer lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality,

and higher rates of disability and preventable diseases than non-minorities. Black Americans bear the

most serious burden, according to statistics in the CDC’s first Health Disparities and Inequalities Report

(2016) which analyzes the factors creating higher disease burden for some populations that rob them of

a healthy life.

Open discrimination is not rampant in health care, but it is no secret that subtle biases and

stereotyping persists (Confronting Racism in Health Care). Nursing stills sees biases today including

stereotyping and socioeconomic segregation. There are higher disease rates and preventable deaths

due to limited access to healthcare and regular preventative care.

Healthcare has implemented protections for the patients’ rights, and accepted cultural diversity

for patients but the same has not been addressed for nursing. Most people want to have a nurse who is

“like” them. The belief is that if the nurse looks like them that they also will understand their racial,

ethnic and religious beliefs. Obstetric and gynecological patients prefer a female instead of a male

because they are not comfortable with a male. Because of scoring such as HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer

Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) by patients and the hospital reimbursements due to

these scores, hospitals many times will turn their backs to discrimination against their staff by patients
even though the patient’s request is biased and racial. These instances happen frequently enough that

multiple lawsuits have been filed against hospitals by nurses.

Our country has taken great steps towards racial equality but as people who work with the

public, nurses will tell you that racism still exists today.

Chapter 4: Gender and Sexuality

Gender within the Emergency Department is very diverse. While women are the main

variety among the gender as far as nurses go, there is very little men there. Male nurses

represent a small number of the working nurses in the United States.

The popular judgement that nursing isn’t for men seem to be major obstacles of

bringing more men to the nursing field in which you can only see women. Often, you can see

many male nurses in lower positions as to the women getting high leadership statuses and in

special intensive care, emergency operating rooms

Attitudes, gender roles, care issues and nurse shortages, and motivation can influence

the men in nursing to a great extent. Most nursing fields only recruit men due to the level of

education and sex, making it harder for them to be admitted.

As in perception, studies show that men need to be admitted more often due to the

gender flourishing along with the females, giving more variety and the men what they wish to

do in life.

In issues, women declare that men shouldn’t be able to care for people due to how they

appear and the bewilderment that some men would even do such a thing.
 In a recent research study, it is shown that a male’s motivation is due to the ridicule and

negative talk they receive daily. They have shown the difficulties can be overtaken by the

gender expectations of male nurses and improve their knowledge and expectations.

Chapter 5: Kinship, Family & Marriage

In the United States, over the past decades, the attitudes are changing slowly regarding

marriage and children rearing. The change is most pronounced in what we see as the function of

marriage, the acceptance of cohabitation, and the rise and acceptance of single parenting (Pickard,

2017). There is a shift occurring in what defines a marriage or a family and what is acceptable.

The evidence is clear that marriage and family life are good for us as individuals and as a society

(Pickard, 2017). Married people tend to be healthier mentally and physically, live longer, and have

lower rates of alcohol abuse (First Things First, 2013). There is also evidence that a good family

relationship is beneficial for patient outcomes (Luttik, 2016). The patient’s family or support system

includes spouses, heterosexual or homosexual, friends, ex-spouses, children, grandparents and co-

workers, also known as the work family. The importance of the family or the patient’s support system is

not to be underestimated.

Nursing’s view of the family being part of the patient care has changed as the societal

perceptions have changed. Pediatric nursing has always to some extent, included the parents in the

care plan. Regularly now nursing care plans include not only the patient but also the patient’s family or

support system. It has been found that nursing attitudes towards family participation in patient care

were more positive with the higher educational level of the nurse (Pickard, 2017). Many hospitals and

health care institutions have developed policies to include families or support systems to be part of the
patient care, including being present at critical times. A member of the clinical team caring for the

patient at these times, stays with the family to educate and answer questions.

There is a connection between the family’s health, as a unit, and the health of the family’s

members so nursing assumes that health care will be more efficient if there is more of an emphasis

placed on not only teaching the patient but also teaching the patient’s family. The family, however that

is defined in today’s society, is an essential part of the care process.