Delivering Culturally Competent Nursing Care, 3rd Edition

Nurses who provide care that is culturally congruent with patients’ healthcare values and beliefs are better able to promote health among culturally diverse populations, prevent complications from delayed treatment, and ensure quality care for all patients. By identifying populations at high risk for disease, and delivering effective and culturally appropriate care, nurses help reduce healthcare costs and healthcare disparities at the same time. However, despite the rapidly increasing body of knowledge on cultural competency, the goals of becoming culturally competent and reducing healthcare disparities are not easy to achieve. Many nurses continue to express concern and confusion about what it really means to be culturally competent. The author takes the position that the process always begins with the nurse’s careful self-assessment. The book is divided into 14 chapters. The Staircase Model, developed by the author and presented in Chapter 1, assists nurses in this process. By applying the Staircase Self-Assessment Model, nurses are guided toward a conscientious self-reflection that enables them to determine their personal level of cultural competency in the care of a particular patient population. Chapter 2 offers a description of current cultural assessment models to be used by the nurse to explore the patient’s cultural background and healthcare needs. Chapter 3 focuses on nurses’ interactions with one another as colleagues when there are language or cultural differences between them. In Chapters 4 through 14, the reader explores topics and case examples that focus on more challenging nurse–patient situations. The journey to cultural competency is one of ongoing, conscientious self-reflection, cultural assessment, and collaboration between the patient and the nurse. The book offers nurse readers a step-by-step approach to developing those skills.