My acculturation experience as a novice nurse                       I recently decided to switch careers into nursing. I have always been in the forensic or death industry. I had always wanted a be a nurse so I decided to make the change. My acculturation experience was rather drastic coming from the line of work that I was in before. I do not necessarily have to be as gentle in the morgue.                   For my first and current nursing job, I was hired as a per diem  employee through an agency. I started in January of 2020.  My assignments  are mostly one on one with a child at their school. I really love working with  children, it is a field of nursing that most interest me. The biggest adjustment  for me was a language barrier. Most of the schools that I was sent to had  patients that spoke in Spanish as their primary language. Communication is a  fundamental component of cross-cultural care encounters. (Maria   Jirwe,  Kate Gerrish, and Azita Emami (2010)) This was a major adjustment  for me because I had to use my judgement based off of facial expressions or  translation from a teacher. I often had to wait for a teacher or staff member  to become available to help me speak with my patient. In the end it became a  routine for me. I learned who to ask and when to ask them.                     I also had schools where the children were non verbal or faced with  learning disabilities. I had never worked with a disabled population before  and I did not know what to expect. Children with intellectual and  developmental disabilities (I,DD) may belong to a minority culture, the  additional culture of disability, and a culture of poverty. (Nehring (2007)) I once had a patient who was autistic,  non verbal, and diabetic. I was with this particular patient several times. He  took some getting use to, but I found a way to communicate with him.  Although he was non-verbal her was very comprehensive and helped me in  his own way.                      When I got sent out on these assignments I went alone. I was not  trained with a nurse by my side. I had the phone number of the supervising  nurse if I had any questions. That was very new for me. I was use to a formal  training time period in which I had to be comfortable with a skill before I was  able to do it alone. I was very nervous when I got my first assignment. The  agency assured me that it would not be a difficult case for my first time. They  were right, my first cases was a very simple laid back case. I believe it is what  gave me the confidence that I needed to continue doing the job. I can not tell  the experience of a new nurse that has joined our staff because we all worked  alone.  References Nehring, Wendy M. (2007)  Considerations for Children With Intellectual                   and Developmental Disabilities. Jirwe, Maria,  Gerrish, Kate, and  Emami, Azita (2010)  Student Nurses'                           Experiences of Communication in Cr.

1. My acculturation experience as a novice nurse
I recently decided to switch careers into nursing.
I have always
been in the forensic or death industry. I had always wanted a be
a nurse so I
decided to make the change. My acculturation experience was
rather drastic
coming from the line of work that I was in before. I do not
necessarily have to
be as gentle in the morgue.
For my first and current nursing job, I was hired as
a per diem
employee through an agency. I started in January of 2020. My
assignments
are mostly one on one with a child at their school. I really love
working with
children, it is a field of nursing that most interest me. The
biggest adjustment
for me was a language barrier. Most of the schools that I was
sent to had
patients that spoke in Spanish as their primary language.
Communication is a
fundamental component of cross-cultural care

2. encounters. (Maria
Jirwe, Kate Gerrish, and Azita Emami (2010)) This was a major
adjustment
for me because I had to use my judgement based off of facial
expressions or
translation from a teacher. I often had to wait for a teacher or
staff member
to become available to help me speak with my patient. In the
end it became a
routine for me. I learned who to ask and when to ask them.
I also had schools where the children were non
verbal or faced with
learning disabilities. I had never worked with a disabled
population before
and I did not know what to expect. Children with intellectual
and
developmental disabilities (I,DD) may belong to a minority
culture, the
additional culture of disability, and a culture of poverty.
(Nehring (2007)) I once had a patient who was autistic,
non verbal, and diabetic. I was with this particular patient
several times. He
took some getting use to, but I found a way to communicate
with him.

3. Although he was non-verbal her was very comprehensive and
helped me in
his own way.
When I got sent out on these assignments I went
alone. I was not
trained with a nurse by my side. I had the phone number of the
supervising
nurse if I had any questions. That was very new for me. I was
use to a formal
training time period in which I had to be comfortable with a
skill before I was
able to do it alone. I was very nervous when I got my first
assignment. The
agency assured me that it would not be a difficult case for my
first time. They
were right, my first cases was a very simple laid back case. I
believe it is what
gave me the confidence that I needed to continue doing the job.
I can not tell
the experience of a new nurse that has joined our staff because
we all worked
alone.
References

4. Nehring, Wendy M. (2007) Considerations for Children With
Intellectual
and Developmental Disabilities.
Jirwe, Maria, Gerrish, Kate, and Emami, Azita (2010) Student
Nurses'
Experiences of Communication in Cross-Culture
Care Encounters.
Reply2
Describe your acculturation experience as a new graduate to the
culture of the nursing profession. How is it similar or different
from the acculturation experience of a new nursing colleague
who joined your team within the past year?
Due to the global health crisis caused by COVID-19, I currently
work at my family's property management company. My
opinions on the matter will be solely based on prior clinical
experiences. My closest experience of being a new graduate
nurse experiencing acculturation would come from my
practicum at a medical-surgical unit at Homestead Hospital. At
this facility, I was able to experience my closest experience of
being a registered nurse in the workforce. To begin, one must
have a better understanding of the topic and have a better
understanding of what acculturation is. According to Lois
Ritter, an expert in cultural and social anthropology,
acculturation is best defined as the extent to which one cultural
group adopts the beliefs and behaviors of another (Ritter, 2017
p. 10). The experiences of acculturation I had were firmly based
on broader altruistic beliefs and general mannerisms.

5. Most of my experiences with acculturation of the
nursing culture happened during my practicum. At the start of
my internship, I was an enthusiastic student waiting to use what
I learned throughout my schooling experience. The start of
transitioning from a student to a professional made me think of
the best ways to present myself to patients and fellow staff.
This transition entailed providing an understanding environment
for all patients, providing quality care, and, most importantly,
being a patient advocate. During my first day, my preceptor
helped me acclimate to the nursing realm. She helped explain
the hospital systems and protocols; most importantly, she
showed me the importance of cooperation and collaboration in
the nursing team. Events during this period which helped me
assimilate to nursing culture include: having multiple nurses
teach me new techniques to perform specific tasks more quickly
and effectively, observing other nurses assist backed up nurses
with patients, witnessing these same nurses collaborating with
coworkers on how to deal with certain patient conditions, and
viewing these nurses play vital roles as patient advocates.
During this experience, I met a new graduate from a different
university completing her orientation training on the same
medical-surgical floor. During my month stay, we discussed the
differences between schooling to the real world of nursing. We
discussed the importance of teamwork and collaboration and felt
at ease, knowing we were in a supportive career.
The nurses in that medical-surgical unit helped demonstrate the
caring and understanding nature of the nursing culture; with
their help, I was able to assimilate. My coworker was able to
get a better understanding and feel for the culture as well.
Ultimately, nurses strive to help their patients and colleagues.
Their desire to help people, better known as altruism, is
ultimately the true definition of nursing culture (Black, 2017 p.
53).