What Is the Importance of Cultural Competency in Nursing Practice? Support Your Response.

In this twenty-first century, our society is becoming more and more multicultural and diverse, where people from different part of the world are living, working and playing together. Caring for the people from different ethnicities and cultures could be challenging, that’s why nurses need to be culturally competent. Nurses to become culturally competent and they need to understand their own world view and those of the patient, while avoiding misapplication and stereotyping of scientific knowledge. This cultural knowledge lets nurses to understand and see the whole picture and helps nurses to deliver quality care, thus improving outcomes. Cultural competence is all about listening to the patient and learning about the patient’s perception and beliefs of health and illness. Incorporating different cultural practices and beliefs in the nurse’s plan of care requires an open mind, flexibility and respect for the other culture. The perception of disease, illness and their causes varies by culture. Culture has big influence on how people seek health care and how they respond to treatment. It is the responsibility of the nurses to be more culturally competent by reading, talking and listening about the various cultures he or she is going to deal with. Nurses need to avoid making stereotypical assumptions about patients culture and become more aware of own prejudices and biases. Learning new communication skill like learning new language also helps a lot in delivering care.

Reference: http://journals.lww.com/nursingmadeincrediblyeasy/Fulltext/2011/03000/The_importance_of_cultural_competence.1.aspx http://www.aacn.nche.edu/education-resources/cultural-competency
http://www.culturediversity.org/cultcomp.htm