Why, thank you, I'd be honored!

I am so excited! One of my top two picks for faculty advisors said yes to working with me for an Honors project! Full speed ahead! Here's the proposal:


I am interested in looking at the cultural competency of BSN students. The rationale for increasing cultural competency among nurses is obvious (but would be fully outlined in my final paper of course), but the logistics of doing so is much more complicated. We tend to leave the concept of cultural competency in the abstract, and never truly integrate it into practice. I've heard nurses ask patients, "Are there any cultural practices or beliefs that we should be aware of?", and I cringe because most of us aren't aware of our own practices and beliefs because they are so integral. It's a little like asking a patient if they are experiencing lupus - it's not a very answer-able question.
Using the nursing process, it seems smart to assess the level of competency that students have in issues of diversity awareness, personal values, etc as they begin nursing school, before interventions are planned for increasing that competency. As I've been researching the topic in order to write a resolution for ANS, I have found a tool (Josepha Campinha-Bacote's IAPCC-SV) that measures the level of cultural competence among healthcare professional students. One of the focuses of Campinha-Bacote's research is cultural desire, or the motivation to learn about culture and interact with awareness. I am particularly interested in trying to get a sense of the readiness to learn among the BSN population with regards to issues of culture, diversity, tolerance, acceptance, awareness.

So the research question I'm considering is: What is the level of cultural competence among BSN students at this school of nursing?

still thinking...

Minority Midwifery Student's got me thinking again.

Our Research prof was talking last week about how she had this radical discovery after her first focus group in the Latino church. She wants to know if cardiovascular interventions for Latino folks like education on risk factors and exercise and whatnot are more effective if they are sponsored by the church. The church members interviewed said - We are glad that you are here and wanted to ask us questions and listen to what we say. And so we really feel that we have to tell you that we don't have time to talk to you about cardiovascular health and diet and exercise. We have enough other things to worry about - like when to buy food, keeping the car running or enough money for bus fare, and making sure that someone can always be home with the baby."

I'm getting all these messages lately that I'm not listening to what I am hearing. from newFNP, MMS, and my own District Health Action Committee that does not in fact want to talk about health disparities in the schools of my district, but would rather continue to advocate for compostable lunchtrays. I love the idea of corn-plastic cups, and composting lunch, and organic food for all school children. Get that Fast Food Nation guy in here right now for a sound bite. But also, there's shit going down that I would like to be working on, and instead I'm real busy jacking around.

I've been writing scholarship and election essays about how I want to work community health after I get my MSN, and after I spend a couple of semesters taking more conversational and health-care focused Spanish. But the more I edit those essays and really pay attention to what I'm saying, I realize that they are not reflected in my current day-to-day. In fact, I could be practicing my Spanish at the store up the street instead of driving past it to go the big chain store. I could be listening to Spanish on my mp3 player on the bus.

I wonder if I'm putting off the idea of working at the clinic until I am an FNP because I'm really scared to do that. Part of it is that I haven't had Community Health yet, but since when do I wait for the nursing school to come bring me the shit that I want to learn? I've trotted out to the workshops at the Pharmacy school on Plan B and over the library to meet up with the gay folks.

I guess I have this idea that once I go into the clinic as a practitioner, that I'll only be able to stay so long before my motivation/energy will be used up. Seems like that was my experience as a patient or the parent of a patient at the clinic - after a few visits, when I knew that being treated like shit was the norm, not the exception, I would go in with these high hopes, trying to muscle through as much bureaucracy before my momentum wore off, like that slow motion football player throwing off tackles left and right, and finally leaping over the goal line by inches... She finally... gets... the prescription... and she's clear.

Workshops on incontinence are important, yes. Seminars on the IRB process for the survey/honors project I want to do on nurses' cultural competency w/r/t LGBTQI folks, good. But following up on the shit that I said I was doing is also critical. And it's bugging me that I say I'm doing it for the people who will give me money, but I'm not doing it yet.

maybe that's why I'm still awake at 2am?

why, White People, why?

My people are busy sucking again.

Listened to report the other day about how a patient was noncompliant with the Kwell shampoo. I perked up because this is the new admission that I saw coming in, a 30-something AfAm male with 5" dreads. What is Kwell shampoo, I wonder? And why are they trying to wash his head? And why are they confused that he would be noncompliant with this plan? The report on this patient ends with the fact that "pt did allow us to apply the Kwell lotion and understood that we would need to leave it on for 8 hours. He stated that he was offended by our original request and that he had psoriasis. After our conversation, he seemed less agitated and was less loud."

okay. let's get the bullets out:

• I don't know a thing about the situation, because my instructor wouldn't allow me to talk to the staff nurses about it.
  
• kwell shampoo is apparently used for lice, according to my clinical instructor.
• did the patient in fact have lice?
  
• does the staff have a clue that rules for washing and caring for white hair are totally different from the rules for black hair, and dreads have their own policies and procedures as well? Did anyone do a quick google search on whether kwell shampoo was the appropriate treatment for a patient with dreadlocks and lice?
  
• Yes, lice IS in fact a concern in this unit, as it would spread like wildfire and be very difficult to eradicate.
• However, did the patient in fact have flaky skin on his scalp that got mistaken for lice by the intake nurse?
  
• And, was this nurse the same one who left the report, because I've watched her and she has demonstrated a marked lack of social adeptness in a variety of situations. Including, but not limited to, responding to a patient's statement during community meeting that he doesn't know where his stuff is and didn't receive an itemized receipt for his belongings when he was admitted by saying that "you shouldn't bring things of value with you. I mean, when I go to the doctor, I don't bring all my cash and my jewelry and whatever with me!" Um. Hi. I have a comment. This patient was involuntarily committed and brought here in cuffs. What the fuck did you expect him to do?

so.

minority midwifery student has been writing of this bullshit this week.

and I'd like to add my offer of help to all my people. White folks, let me know if you need some help on this from one of your own. I'll be running a little workshop on Saturday in the park, come on by and we'll have graham crackers and talk it through.