A 66-year-old native Chinese patient, hospitalized for a myocardial in

QUESTION

A 66-year-old native Chinese patient, hospitalized for a myocardial infarction, asks the nurse manager about seeing his “acupuncture doctor” for treatment of his migraine headache. The best response to this patient would be:

a. “How long have you been using acupuncture treatment?”
b. “Do you think acupuncture relieves your pain satisfactorily?”
c. “What have you told your heart specialist about your migraines and treatment?”
d. “Have you tried nonprescription pain medication or been given a prescription drug for your headaches?”

ANSWER:

ANS: A
Acknowledging the patient’s use of acupuncture demonstrates cultural sensitivity through acknowledgement of treatments that would be consistent with the patient’s cultural interpretation of illness and responses to it. The other responses indicate lack of cultural sensitivity as well as cultural imposition, in that the nurse diverts the line of inquiry toward interventions that would be common to the nurse’s experience of health care in Western cultures.