We live in an increasingly multicultural world, with many of us living in places with a variety of different languages, cultures, and religions, and this can have its challenges, particularly in healthcare. Nursing is a career that demands compassion and empathy for effective patient care, and nurses must learn to develop cultural competence. In this article, we dive into why cultural competence is so significant in healthcare and its impact on patients.
What is cultural competence?
Cultural competence is the ability to understand and respect a patient’s culture and background. This goes deeper than simply being aware and involves knowledge, skill, and an empathetic outlook. Nurses need these skills to connect with people from various backgrounds and deliver the highest degree of care.
How does cultural competence improve health care?
Patient experience
If you’re looking to study and become a nurse, cultural competence is vital to creating an excellent patient experience. This can be learned through reading about skills and gaining experience in hands-on situations. An understanding of culture develops a sense of trust and respect in the nurse/patient relationship—it allows patients to feel valued, respected, and understood, and the better understanding a nurse has, the more positive the environment they nurture.
Patient Safety
Another aspect of cultural competence in healthcare is patient safety. There is a huge cultural influence when it comes to someone’s health treatment and medication preferences. Knowledge of this allows nurses to clearly communicate with patients and adhere to personal medication preferences. Nurses can look at historical records, and identify challenges that could present themselves between culture and medication, helping to reduce risk and error.
Health Disparities
In 2023, disparities among groups such as ethnic minorities, and the LGBTQ+ communities are becoming increasingly important. These groups frequently experience inequality when receiving healthcare treatment. This is reflected in their lack of quality care, limited access to care, and even different healthcare outcomes. Nurses with a strong sense of cultural competence can battle this—cultural competence provides nurses with the knowledge needed to implement strategies that reduce the disparity in healthcare. This could be things such as providing translators, adapting healthcare protocols, and generally promoting cultural competence in everyday practice.
How can nurses practice cultural competence?
Firstly, education among nurses and cultural competence can be integrated into nurse training programs, and more of a focus should be given to diversity within programs. A tighter and more streamlined means of communication between language interpreter community resources and cultural mediators will be paramount in how readily available culturally competent care is. Healthcare companies can also put policies in place to promote diversity and education around culture and healthcare. Online nursing degree programs such as those provided by the University of Indianapolis equip students with all the knowledge and skills required to administer culturally competent, effective healthcare.
Final Words
It’s no doubt that cultural competence is vital in healthcare and nurses must adopt an attitude of inclusion, diversity, and understanding when it comes to those from different cultures to their own. Ultimately, the goal of nursing is to provide the same high level of care for everyone, regardless of ethnicity, language, or cultural background.