Cultural Competence in Nursing Practice
Nurses are constantly challenged when caring for the diverse ethnical population in the United States. Most of the direct care in a health care organization is provided by nurses therefore, the expectations are for nurses to be knowledgeable about the diverse health beliefs, and practices of their patients (Bauce, Kridli, & Fitzpatrick, 2014). Appropriate care planning and interventions will be more effective if the patient’s cultural, values and beliefs are understood and considered.
In order for nurses to be competent, education and training needs to involve the following: Ethnicity, language, culture, religion, gender, sexual orientation and socioeconomic class. Cultural competency allows the patient and nurse to connect. For example, patients may be more comfortable in communicating and expressing themselves if the nurse speaks the same language as them. The nurse is able to address the patient and get a response therefore planning and interventions will be clearly understood by patient. It is important for the nurse and the health care organization to understand the culture of patients in order to provide cultural relevant treatment. For example, diet and nutrition is important and every culture has different foods of preference. A nurse may implement a nutrition plan for a diabetic patient based on the patient’s ethnic food groups or preference. The patient will most likely follow the diet if it is planed with foods that are familiar to them. When providing education and educational material it is important to educate in the language spoken and understood by patient. Patients will find the education more interesting and will be able to ask questions if needed.
In order to deliver patient-centered care nurses must be culturally competent and be mindful of patients ethnic and cultural back ground. Communication will