Introduction
One of the pillars of successfully building a tremendous nurse-patient relationship is cultural competence. In the nursing context, cultural competence refers to a nurse’s ability to offer the best medical and patient care to the patients and concurrently demonstrate a cultural awareness of the patient’s values, race, and beliefs (Jeffreys, 2015). The implication is that a nurse has sufficient knowledge of the individual’s cultural diversity, hence handling him/her with the same in mind. Cultural competence enables a nurse to attend better to the patient’s needs by relating more and better and empathizing with them (Jeffreys, 2015). This week seven discussion looks into the identification of and a discussion of cultural competence in professional nursing.
Identifying Cultural Competence
Various frameworks have been used in the past in identifying the major components of cultural competence. One of such identification is based on the North American frameworks of cultural competence. Such frameworks recognized their anthropological roots with a major focus on culture. In identifying cultural competence, five major components are usually considered: cultural sensitivity, cultural encounters, cultural skills, cultural knowledge, and cultural awareness (Cai, 2016). So for a nurse to be considered culturally competent, then he/she should show or have the five components identified in the framework. While there are so many frameworks of identifying cultural competence, many of them share numerous things in common. For instance, an analysis previously done on nine frameworks revealed that they have various components but shared various themes (Jeffreys, 2015). The themes shared by the nine frameworks include being non-judgemental and staying open for every individual, caring for everyone regardless of the cultural background, and having a diversity awareness. These frameworks, therefore, establish valuable criteria for identifying and standards for cultural awareness.
Cultural Competence in Nursing Profession.
Cultural competence in the nursing profession surpasses just being tolerant to another person’s practices and culture. It incorporates celebrating the patient the way he/she is through personalizing care and bridging gaps. Cultural competence gives a nurse the ability to interact and communicate with others more effectively and develop a better understanding of situations. As a part of the nursing profession, cultural competency centers on various items such as gaining insight into the relationship between patients and nurses, ensuring that individuals display positive attitudes towards cultural diversity, nurturing communication skills to promote and achieve cultural interactions (Jeffreys, 2015). The other focus of cultural competence in the nursing profession includes the acquisition of knowledge of differing world views as well as cultural practices.
As indicated earlier, cultural competence is essential for every nurse. Therefore, cultural competence has various importance to the nursing profession, such as avoiding stereotyping. Having knowledge and strong cultural background plays a major role in preventing the nurses from having stereotypes and expressing myopic thoughts. This ensures that the service and the kinds of people served in a particular facility are not limited as everyone from every social class, community, or race is welcome(Jeffreys, 2015). Cultural competence also helps the nurses to give their best in offering their services to every patient. The end result is better patient care and high satisfaction.
Conclusion
Health is universal, meaning nurses along their line of duty will most likely meet and have to attend to individuals coming from without their cultural beliefs and values. So it is important that nurses be culturally competent to help them communicate and express themselves better, hence offer better patient care to every individual they have to attend.
References
Cai, D. Y. (2016). A concept analysis of cultural competence. International Journal of Nursing Sciences, 3(3), 268-273. Doi: 10.1016/j.ijnss.2016.08.002
Jeffreys, M. R. (2015). Teaching cultural competence in nursing and health care: Inquiry, action, and innovation. Springer Publishi
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