Learning about a new culture requires putting all the pieces of a

Learning about a new culture requires putting all the pieces of a pattern together when you do not know the totality of what that whole picture should look like. By training your mind to think strategically at a higher level, you create new maps of cultural situations, which help you to function more effectively. This paper provides ideas that increases your cultural strategic thinking to ensure patients are addressed with care and compassion regardless of their individual culture and beliefs.Case DescriptionIn this case study, Abdul Hadi is one of the 3 million Muslims living in Germany. He just had a surgery and is recovering from a hospital near his home. Anna is his nurse and she is always frustrated with his behavior and having to accommodate his needs. After the surgery, it is difficult for him to take a shower or cleanse himself especially when he wants to pray. Anna has always offered help but he insists on having a male nurse. Presently, there is no available male nurse as all of them are assigned to patients. Culture matters to Hadi, and as a Muslim he must not eat pork or take medications that have any pork products or alcoholic substances; he is only allowed specific medications and treatments containing these products as influenced by his religion. In addition, Abdul can’t eat just any food, hence, he has special dietary needs which gives a challenge of selecting food that suites his needs while ensuring he stays healthy and strong. Abdul’s surgery also saw many relatives visiting him and they ended up disturbing other patients in the ward with their noise due to their level of activity. Abdul has constantly called Anna for assistance to get out of bed each time he wants to pray but she couldn’t as she was always attending to other patients at the same time. These issues are affecting the Abdul’s quick recovery while Anna is upset with his unpleasant demands. Finally, Abdul and Anna are not learning from each other and might end up hurting, regretting or facing the same issues with their future patients or care givers respectively.Analysis – cultural intelligence in terms of national, regional and individual culture levels.One of the basic views of culture is that it consists of levels and sublevels. There are five basic levels of culture – national, regional, organizational, team, and individual (Cultural Intelligence for Leaders, 2012). The ability to make sense of unfamiliar contexts and then blend in these culture levels is termed Cultural intelligence (CQ). The national level is viewed as the cultural influences of a nation that result in its national characteristics. These are values held by a majority of the people within a nation, influenced basically instinctively and developed throughout one’s childhood. From the case, Abdul Hadi could likely be from an Islamic nation different from Germany where he is residing. And as a Muslim he believes does not permit him to eat pork or to take alcohol. Since he resides in Germany and needs medical attention, being culturally intelligent to adjust and adapt to the German culture should be his call. This is similar to a German who comes from a culture of punctuality and travels for business in Saudi Arabia scheduled to start by 9am, only to arrive at 8:45am to see Saudi Arabian delegates already seated to commence meeting. The German will notice a national cultural difference in how Saudi Arabians view time as compared to their own culture. Under the regional level, it is observed that in a national culture their can still exist regional differences. For example, a word in west Germany could mean a different thing at the east. It is a popular believe that all national cultures consist of regional subcultures that influence the characteristics of one group from another in a nation state (Cultural Intelligence for Leaders, 2012). So, it is possible that Abdul Hadi lives in a non-Muslim region of Germany where pork meat is the main source of protein such that cafeterias can’t make a food without it. Being culturally Intelligent should prompt Anna to observe Abdul or discuss with him on his challenges with food containing substances so as to know if any alternatives can be preferred. More so, individual culture relates to your preferences for things through your personal experiences that include the influence of your family, your peers, school,media, co-workers, etc. Under individual level, it is likely that Abdul Hadi’s personal experiences has prompted his refusal of Anna’s assistance to bathe or cleanse himself. In the context of CQ he is expected to understand that he is in a different cultural environment and that his health is a priority now not his personal believes.Strategies for Solving Abdul’s Behavior or NeedsThe major issues from this case stem from lack of cultural intelligence as a result of not employing cultural strategic thinking techniques. Abdul’s first behavior or need can be resolved if Anna and her supervisor can be better listeners and observers in other to understand why he insists on a male nurse to cleanse him. Active listening focuses your mind on the speaker, and, if done well can help build trust and a relationship with others (Cultural Intelligence for Leaders, 2012). It can facilitate an effective cultural interaction with less conflict, confusion, and frustration. Practicing to be an active listener is making a conscious choice about your responses to others. Both Anna and her supervisor, based on their observation can find a way to appeal to management get a male nurse from other patient whose cases may not be peculiar, in this way the situation can be managed. Because illnesses can be a large source of physical and emotional stress, the supervisor can also help Anna by coaching her, which entails asking her questions, making suggestions, and exploring alternative care techniques. Doing this provides Anna and the supervisor with the opportunity to break down Abdul’s resistance of care by Anna until a male nurse is available.Secondly, by gaining cultural knowledge, Anna and her supervisor can settle Abdul’s second and third needs. They must recognize the cultural differences that exist between themselves and people of other culture – religion. Gaining cultural knowledge about patients’ backgrounds is very helpful and can help caregivers understand what to learn more or where to improve on (Cultural Intelligence for Leaders, 2012). This strategy can help Anna seamlessly offer care without ill feelings. In this way Anna can learn to manage her emotions, gauge the patient’s emotions, and adapt as needed. The supervisor can also help her to assess her self-efficacy and confidence level in working with patients of different cultural and religious backgrounds with an open mind. One way that Abdul’s special dietary needs can be resolved is for Anna to ask him more important question or simply change their questions if they have been asking. According to Adams (2004), when you change your questions in any given situation, this allows you to change your thinking. Since it is hard to find a food that fits his need, Anna can take time to observe Abdul and ask him if there is any other food he could eat while recovering which she could always make available. Through his responses, Anna can consult a cook or propose a food time table that meets his special diet need. This approach can also encourage Anna through her supervisor to seek management attention to employ a cook to prepare food for Abdul and other patients and bill them appropriately. Lastly, Anna should not have a negative perspective about Abdul but rather should through a positive cognitive thinking discover the possibility of a relative cooking for Abdul. Through personal conversations Anna can inform Abdul Hadi and his relatives about the hospitals policies in receiving visitors. Detailing him the effects of their on other patients. Making him aware of this will reduce the inconvenience experienced by other patients. I believe that learning to identify behaviors that are inappropriate and are a setback to the patient’s health and wellbeing as well as discussing it is a good strategy to meet this need.Practicing peer-discussion activities can help Abdul receive help and space when he wants to pray. Peer-learning opportunities or discussion to explore cultural interactions and resolve cultural problems promotes cultural strategic thinking (Cultural Intelligence for Leaders, 2012). Anna could approach Abdul to discuss with him the nature and the challenges she faces at work attending to him and other patients. The ability for both of them to discuss this problem will lead to a change how Abdul feels about Anna knowing that she has other patients to care about. On the other hand, Anna will understand how important praying is to Abdul’s culture. She can also suggest other nurses who could assist perhaps she is unavailable. If Abdul understands this, he will not feel that Anna or the hospital are insensitive to his needs. If both parties can learn to name the emotions and identify the thought patterns that occur while working with each other, it can help them release negative emotions and feelings that can hinder the healing process.Strategy to Increase Hospitals Cultural Strategic ThinkingCultural strategic thinking helps organizations to abandon what they think they know and to apply new information concerning what the situation should be. It is advantageous for the hospital management to recognize the cultural differences that exists between their specific belief and value system and other cultures especially Islam. By training their employees to think at a higher level, organizations create new maps of cultural situations, which help address patients care effectively. Adaptation is key for the hospital to increase their cultural strategic thinking to ensure patients are addressed with care and compassion regardless of their operating culture (Earley & Ang, 2003). Adaptation across new cultural contexts requires that novel ways of relating with others be discovered. Hence, existing strategies at the hospital must be adjusted or reinvented depending on the situation and culture. Adaptation dictates how to interact with and treat patients, and as a result, policies are developed to treat and work with patients in a specific way. A practical basic approach is for the hospital management to identify what they currently know about the Islamic culture and what they would like to learn more about and how to improve their system for better patient care. Other approaches will include training to gain cultural knowledge and mentorship for employees, peer learning, patient interaction and feedback to ensure patients are addressed with care and compassion regardless of their individual culture and beliefs.ConclusionCultural strategic thinking gaps, but cultural differences in general, can affect the performance of an organization (Jordao, 2018). When care givers and patients understand each other, they collaborate more effectively and are more productive. Organizations should put in place cultural intelligence strategies to help supervisors and nurses bridge these gaps and improve patient outcomes.