"While I am very active in my church and a devout Christian, I grew up on the East Coast and have many close friends from all different cultural backgrounds and belief systems. I was raised with an open mind and welcoming heart that I would bring to work every day as an RN here at Mount Sinai. As a new nurse, I will always strive to give the best care possible to all my patients, despite how different their religious or other beliefs may be from mine. I will always treat every patient as if they were my family member."

"Throughout my career as an RN, I've enjoyed caring for and working closely with people from all walks of life. It's amazing to learn from and grow from what others have taught me in their life lessons. In my current position, I often have patients from India. Some of my colleagues get frustrated with patients from India as they have a different way of dealing with pain, and often nurses feel they can't do anything for themselves even though they physically could. But when you get into the subject with them and start learning about their culture, it is not normal for a patient to care for themselves. They often have a family member with them who takes care of them. In their culture, if you are sick or have given birth or had surgery, you rest in bed while everything is done for you. They believe the patient needs to rest and will heal by resting. Instead of being negative about this, we need to support these patients as best we can. It is hard to be in a different country where you may not speak the language well, or at all. I always think about what it might be like to be in a hospital in another country. I would be scared, to be quite honest, not knowing what they are doing or why they are doing it. So giving compassion to these patients is very important."

In an RN role with the Mount Sinai Hospital, you will encounter patients from all walks of life and all racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds, genders, sexual orientations, religions, and other belief systems. To provide the best care to all your patients, you should always be aware of any conscious or unconscious biases you may have and set them aside while providing care. To successfully answer this question, you should give a specific example of a time when you recognized a patient's values and beliefs different from yours and explain how you worked with them in a compassionate and caring manner.