Evaluating cultural competence in nursing students

Background and issue: There is little research that explores nursing students' attitudes towards culture. Awareness and desire are key aspects in providing culturally competent care, and there is a need to identify what, if any awareness and desire nursing students have towards providing culturally competent care. Cultural competency is important because cultural competent health care providers have the potential to reduce racial and ethnic health disparities which comprise a total annual economic impact of approximately 24 billion dollars. Description: The study uses a qualitative analysis of student journals regarding culture and cultural competency to determine qualities related to the cultural attitudes of undergraduate nursing students. The journal consists of a prompt-driven format to guide students in exploring their own awareness and desire related to the process of becoming culturally competent. Lessons learned: Seven key themes are identified in the qualitative analysis of the student journals. The awareness of cultural needs is identified as is a desire to provide culturally competent care. Recommendation: Based on the analysis of the qualitative data, it is recommended that specific culturally competency education be included in nursing education. There is a need to replicate the study on a larger scale across a variety of nursing schools.