CULTURALLY COMPETENT SERVICE

Culturally Competent Service

Culturally Competent Service

Question # 1

Present literature review by synthesis of current research on the cultural competent service needed for an area, with identified health disparities.

In nursing, the multicultural process has generated a need for cultural competence because the number of patients or clients from differing cultural backgrounds has increased in all the industrialized countries, and nurses are expected to manage multicultural issues in practice. This increased multiculturalism challenges nurses to reassess their traditional roles, values and the boundaries among various professional groups in patient care. Multicultural of nursing has also challenged nursing education as well as societies to respond to the needs of increasing multiculturalism. In several countries multicultural has influenced legislation on the rights of patients. For example, an act on patient's rights was passed in Finland in 1995. The act requires nursing staff to take into account the patient's culture, to communicate in the patient's native language and respect individual needs in the patient's care and treatment. According to this Act it is nurses' responsibility to meet the cultural needs of the patient (Torsvik, 2008).

Research has shown that cultural knowledge in nursing is extremely important. The lack of this knowledge may cause deficits in practice and as a result of these deficits nurses may have ethnocentric and stereotyped attitudes towards patients. Both nurses and patients have been of the opinion that lacking cultural knowledge might even hinder nurses from providing quality nursing because the relationship and interaction between a nurse and a patient may be harmed by a lack of understanding for each other's cultural beliefs. From a cultural perspective shortened hospital stays are challenging for nurses because there is less time to learn about the patient's cultural values and beliefs. However, research has demonstrated that culturally competent nurses do not need extra time when encountering their patients because cultural sensitivity comes naturally to them and one might even claim that nursing is interesting for this reason. However, it is impossible for a nurse to be familiar with all the cultures in the world, and furthermore, cultural knowledge changes. A lack of time and the changing nature of cultural knowledge may cause frustration among nurses. The challenges mentioned above have been recognized in nursing and it has been suggested that it is important and appropriate to enhance the knowledge of the cultures a nurse most obviously faces in practice (Watt, 2002).

In the present study, cultural competence is defined as a set of skills and behaviors that enable a nurse to work effectively within the cultural context of a client/patient. The concept of cultural competence is composed of general and specific cultural competencies. Generic cultural competence refers to knowledge and skills which are applicable across ethnic groups. Specific cultural knowledge and skills are applicable to a particular ethnic group. Researchers have claimed that by applying these two types of knowledge nurses are able to understand their patients' cultural perceptions, beliefs and values regarding health and illness, and reassess their own practice on the basis ...